Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has called for dialogue and de-escalation following a rapidly worsening dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to grant an elite Ukrainian military unit the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA’, reviving one of the most painful historical controversies in Polish–Ukrainian relations.

In a lengthy statement published in both Ukrainian and Polish, Sybiha argued that escalating tensions ‘benefit neither Ukrainians nor Poles’ and stressed that both countries had spent nearly two years rebuilding constructive dialogue through joint historical research, exhumations, and the reburial of victims. He insisted that the naming of the military unit had been chosen by Ukrainian soldiers themselves and was intended to honour those who fought against Soviet domination rather than express hostility towards Poland.

The controversy began after Zelenskyy signed a decree on 26 May granting the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA’ to the Separate Special Operations Centre North of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces. The move immediately provoked outrage across Poland’s political spectrum.

What makes the dispute particularly significant is the unusually broad consensus it has generated within Polish politics. President Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) camp, announced that he would seek to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honour.

At the same time, the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk—normally locked in bitter conflict with Nawrocki—also condemned the decision. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described the naming of the unit as deeply harmful to historical dialogue and warned that it could be ‘exploited by Russian propaganda’.

The reason for the backlash lies in fundamentally different historical memories.

‘Honouring the UPA is comparable to Germany naming a military unit after the Einsatzgruppen, the Nazi mobile killing squads’

While many Ukrainians view the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as a nationalist force that fought Soviet domination, in Poland it is primarily remembered as the military wing of the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), associated with the Volhynia and Galicia massacres.

Under the leadership of Stepan Bandera and other nationalist commanders, the OUN-UPA carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Polish population of the eastern borderlands during the Second World War. Tens of thousands of Polish civilians were murdered, often with extreme brutality. The Polish state officially recognizes these crimes as genocide, and since 2025 Poland has marked 11 July as the National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide committed by Ukrainian Nationalists.

Bandera’s legacy remains one of the most contentious issues in Polish–Ukrainian relations, as the Ukrainian leadership continues to promote his image through school curricula and by renaming streets and public institutions. Over a dozen major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, have streets named after him, and more than 40 monuments and statues have been erected in his honour across Ukraine, according to the Washington Examiner.

For many Poles, therefore, naming a military unit after the ‘Heroes of the UPA’ is comparable to glorifying a formation responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed against the Polish nation during the 20th century. The reaction has extended beyond the traditional conservative camp. Former president Lech Wałęsa, former prime minister Leszek Miller, local authorities, and even former Polish diplomats have publicly criticized the decision. In the city of Lublin, officials removed the Ukrainian flag that had flown above city hall since Russia’s full-scale invasion, explicitly citing Zelenskyy’s decree.

Leszek Miller argued that honouring the UPA is comparable to Germany naming a military unit after the Einsatzgruppen, the Nazi mobile killing squads responsible for mass murders in Eastern Europe.

The dispute comes at a time when Polish public attitudes towards Ukraine have cooled significantly compared to the unprecedented solidarity seen in 2022. According to a January 2026 CBOS survey, only 48 per cent of Poles still support accepting Ukrainian refugees, while 46 per cent oppose it—the lowest level of support recorded since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The same survey found that 54 per cent of Poles favour ending the war even if Ukraine is forced to make territorial concessions to Russia.

Support for Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration has also declined sharply. An IBRIS survey found that only 35 per cent of Poles support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, while 42 per cent oppose it. Support for Ukrainian membership in NATO stands at 37 per cent, with 42 per cent opposed. Only 35 per cent favour continued economic assistance to Kyiv, while 44 per cent oppose further aid. Meanwhile, 46 per cent want Poland to reduce or suspend military support altogether.

‘The controversy has already fuelled calls for tougher measures against Kyiv’

The controversy has already fuelled calls for tougher measures against Kyiv. Krzysztof Bosak, leader of the hard-right Konfederacja party, has demanded that Poland block Ukraine’s EU accession process until Kyiv abandons what he described as the ‘cult of criminals’ associated with Bandera and the UPA and fully resolves outstanding disputes concerning the Volhynia massacres.

However, despite the intensity of the dispute, it is unlikely to produce a fundamental rupture in Polish support for Ukraine. Both the Nawrocki presidency and the Tusk government continue to view a Russian victory as a direct threat to Poland’s national security. Poland remains one of Ukraine’s most important logistical hubs, with the vast majority of Western military equipment transiting through Polish territory, while Warsaw continues to support military training, defence cooperation, and sanctions against Russia.

Moreover, although Polish public support for Ukraine has declined, the mainstream political consensus still holds that a sovereign and independent Ukraine serves Poland’s strategic interests by preventing Russia from moving closer to Poland’s eastern border.

As a result, historical disputes over the UPA are likely to further complicate bilateral relations and Ukraine’s EU accession path, but are unlikely to fundamentally alter Warsaw’s broader security policy towards Kyiv.

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