A presidential proposal to revoke an honour has ignited a diplomatic row between Warsaw and Kyiv. Critics point to inconsistencies, citing past recipients such as Gerhard Schröder.
The initiative by Polish President Karol Nawrocki to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle could influence foreign policy, says Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. He told journalists on June 8, according to Polish media.
Sikorski suggested that the move might look strange given other recipients of the award among foreign figures:
I personally believe it would be strange if, narrowing the matter to the living, the Order of the White Eagle is held by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who receives money from Putin, rather than by the one who fights with Putin
– Polish Radio
Gerhard Schröder was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005, and after leaving office he became the chairman of the board of the Russian state oil giant Rosneft. After Russia began its full-scale war against Ukraine, Schröder did not break his personal contacts with Putin and did not make any public statements condemning his actions. In 2025 he spoke out in defense of the Nord Stream project, stating that he saw no reason to break the “proven cooperation.”
“I hope that the Capitulum and the president will make a wise decision,” Sikorski noted.
The order’s Capitulum met today to discuss this proposal, which arose after the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit was named after the “Heroes of the UPA.” Later, Nawrocki’s spokesman Rafal Leszkiewicz said that the Capitulum conveyed its position to the president, who participated in the discussion. He did not specify what view the gathering expressed.
“The president will make a decision in due course,” Leszkiewicz added.
On May 26, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree conferring the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA” on the Separate Center for Special Operations “North” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As stated in the document, this was done “to restore the historical traditions of the national army, considering the exemplary performance of tasks in protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.” This sparked a sharp reaction in Poland.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki criticized this decision. According to him, because of this he would initiate stripping Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle.
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, commenting on the dispute, wrote on the social network X: “If we quarrel over the past, someone else will win the future. The Ukrainian president must finally understand this. The Polish one as well. While it’s not too late.”
Deputy Speaker of the Polish Parliament and leader of the right-populist party “Confederation” Krzysztof Bosak on June 2 urged blocking Ukraine’s accession to the European Union because of naming the Ukrainian unit after the “Heroes of the UPA.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga stated that the escalation of relations between Ukraine and Poland “does not benefit either Ukrainians or Poles.” The minister noted that over the past two years Ukraine and Poland have built a constructive dialogue, unblocked search and exhumation work. According to the diplomat, such an approach of “mutual respect, recognition, and honesty” cannot be undermined, especially in light of the threat from Russia.
UPA: A brief overview
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was a military-political formation operating on the territory of Ukraine from 1942 to 1956.
The aim of the UPA’s creation was to unite scattered armed groups of nationalists under the leadership of the OUN(b). Its main task, as declared by the UPA, was the creation of a sovereign Ukrainian army to restore an independent Ukrainian state and to prepare an uprising after the USSR and Nazi Germany exhaust one another in a bloody war.
UPA advocated the creation of an independent, sovereign Ukrainian state that would include all ethnic Ukrainian lands. The founding date is often considered October 14, 1942, and one of the last battles of the UPA with the NKVD troops was a clash aimed at blocking Soviet military columns to Hungary to suppress the anti-Communist uprising of 1956. Some sources indicate that the last battle of UPA fighters occurred as late as 1967.
UPA employed guerrilla warfare; all weapons were trophy – German, Soviet, Hungarian, and Austrian (some dating from World War I). Besides Ukrainians, Jews, Russians, and fighters of other nationalities fought within the UPA.
UPA fought on two fronts – against Nazi Germany and later against Soviet power, and UPA activity was recognized as an anti-German uprising by German occupation authorities, including Erich Koch. Attacks by UPA units on German military formations continued until August 1944; reports by Soviet partisans also attest to the armed conflict between the Germans and the UPA.
Soviet propaganda smeared the UPA as a structure that cooperated with Nazi Germany.
In Russia, the UPA was recognized as an extremist organization by the Supreme Court in 2014. In Poland, negative attitudes toward the UPA also prevail. In 2016, the Polish parliament qualified the actions of UPA soldiers against the Polish population in Volhynia as genocide.
According to data, after gaining independence Ukraine recognizes the UPA as part of its history, and since 2015 UPA fighters have the status of fighters for Ukraine’s independence; in 2018 a law was passed that grants them the status of combatants. According to 2023 public opinion polls, more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s population regard the UPA as a symbol of defending independence.
«We are witnessing a serious re-evaluation of the past. The history of the UPA is becoming one of the key elements of our national memory. …For more than 70% of Ukrainians this history has become an experience and laid the tradition of resisting the aggressor and defending independence»
– Yaryna Yasynovych