A dispute over historical memory and wartime atrocities has pushed Poland and Ukraine towards a diplomatic confrontation after Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked the country\u2019s highest state honour awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for approving the naming of a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).<\/p>\n
The move comes only days before a conference on Ukraine\u2019s reconstruction is due to be held in the Polish city of Gdansk and is expected to intensify tensions between the two neighbours.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADNawrocki announces revocation of state honour<\/p>\n
Announcing the decision, Nawrocki said, \u201cIn light of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s consent to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine \u201cHeroes of the UPA,\u201d… I have decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from the President of Ukraine. At this point, I would like to emphasize: this decision is not directed against the Ukrainian people. It \u2060does not signify a change in the strategic direction of Polish security policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no immediate comment from Zelenskyy\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Historical wounds continue to strain ties<\/p>\n
Although Warsaw remains a strong supporter of Kyiv\u2019s war effort, public sentiment in Poland has become increasingly negative in recent years due to fatigue over refugees, disagreements over grain imports and the legacy of the World War Two massacres.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the move as a \u201cstrategic error\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe regret that instead of looking for solutions, the Polish side decided to escalate this conflict to an unacceptable and inappropriate level,\u201d he wrote on Facebook, adding, \u201cNo president of another country is going to dictate our history to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has sought to ease the dispute and is a political opponent of Nawrocki, urged both leaders to lower tensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict between Poland and Ukraine delights Putin and shocks our allies. The task of Presidents Zelenskyy and Nawrocki \u200cis to \u2060calm emotions, not to stoke tensions. The front line runs elsewhere,\u201d he wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Why the UPA remains a divisive issue<\/p>\n
Former Polish President Andrzej Duda awarded Zelenskyy the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 for his contributions to bilateral relations, democracy, peace and security in Europe and for \u201csteadfastness in defending inalienable human rights\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, Nawrocki said in May that an advisory council should examine whether Zelenskyy should lose the honour after he signed a decree recognising a Ukrainian special forces unit\u2019s role in fighting Russian forces by naming it after the UPA.<\/p>\n
The decision sparked outrage across Poland\u2019s political spectrum. Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa said he would no longer wear a badge bearing the Ukrainian flag, and, while he continued to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, he would no longer support Zelenskiy.<\/p>\n
Some Ukrainians regard the UPA as heroes for their resistance against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and as symbols of Ukraine\u2019s struggle for independence from Moscow.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
However, the UPA was also involved in the Volhynia massacres, a series of killings between 1943 and 1945 in which Poland says around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. Thousands of Ukrainians also died in reprisal killings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dispute over historical memory and wartime atrocities has pushed Poland and Ukraine towards a diplomatic confrontation after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[95],"tags":[182,56565,56566,56563,50139,56570,181,56567,56569,56568,56564],"class_list":["post-112543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-warsaw","tag-poland","tag-poland-revokes-zelenskyy-award","tag-poland-ukraine-tensions","tag-poland-zelenskyy","tag-ukrainian-insurgent-army","tag-upa-controversy","tag-warsaw","tag-warsaw-kyiv-relations","tag-world-war-ii-dispute","tag-ww-ii-dispute-poland-ukraine","tag-zelenskyy-stripped-of-highest-honour"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}