Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle on Friday, escalating a bitter dispute over a World War II-era Ukrainian military unit that has now triggered reciprocal diplomatic retaliation.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, the country’s ambassador to Warsaw Vasyl Bodnar, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of Zelensky’s office, all returned Polish state awards in solidarity with Zelensky. Sybiga relinquished his own decoration, the Knights Cross of the Order “For Merit to the Republic of Poland,” while Bodnar announced he would return his state award and Budanov declined the Golden Officers Cross of the Order “For Merit.”

The Polish president acted on Friday after Zelensky signed a decree renaming a Ukrainian army unit in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a nationalist paramilitary force active during and after World War II. Warsaw holds the UPA responsible for mass killings of Polish civilians, particularly in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia between 1943 and 1945.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told President Nawrocki on Saturday that Moscow had welcomed the decision to revoke Zelensky’s award, warning that the move risked playing into Russian hands by deepening divisions between two key allies resisting Moscow’s invasion.

Ukrainian officials condemned the Polish move as historically revisionist and politically motivated. Sybiga called the revocation “an unjustified and politically motivated step that damages bilateral relations,” while Bodnar said the decision ignored Ukraine’s wartime sacrifices against Russian aggression.

The escalation comes as Poland and Ukraine struggle to balance historical memory with their shared strategic imperative to counter Russian expansionism. Poland has been a leading military and political backer of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, hosting over a million Ukrainian refugees and supplying advanced weaponry. The UPA dispute, however, has exposed lingering tensions over how to reconcile competing national narratives of World War II.

Zelensky has not publicly commented on the withdrawal of his award, but his office’s refusal to accept a replacement Polish decoration underscores the depth of the crisis. The reciprocal return of honors by senior Ukrainian officials signals that the dispute has entered a new, more confrontational phase.

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Articles

Head of Ukraines Presidential Office rejects Polish merit award after Warsaw strips Zelenskyy of top honor #UkraineHead of Ukraines Presidential...

mastodon bot · about 3 hours ago

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Polands President Karol Nawrocki has stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle amid an increasingly bitter dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw over a World War II-era Ukrainian military unit.

bluesky bot · about 3 hours ago

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ukrpravda · about 3 hours ago

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mastodon bot · about 3 hours ago

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ukrpravda · about 3 hours ago

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mastodon bot · about 3 hours ago

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