History returns to haunt Polish-Ukrainian ties; move to ban smartphones in primary schools<\/p>\n
A new dispute over wartime history has exposed one of the most persistent fault lines in Polish-Ukrainian relations, drawing criticism from both President Karol Nawrocki and PM Donald Tusk. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky granted<\/a> one of Ukraine\u2019s military units the honorary name \u201cHeroes of the UPA\u201d, referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In a presidential decree, Zelensky said<\/a> the move was intended to restore \u201chistorical traditions\u201d and recognise the unit\u2019s role in defending Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity and independence. The decision immediately sparked a backlash<\/a> in Poland, where the UPA is associated with the wartime massacres of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Nawrocki responded<\/a> by announcing that he would seek to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland\u2019s highest state honour, awarded to the Ukrainian leader by former president Andrzej Duda in 2023. \u201cThis is proof that those who argued Ukraine should enter the European Union without expectations were deeply mistaken,\u201d Nawrocki said<\/a>. Tusk, while adopting a more measured tone, also criticised<\/a> Zelensky\u2019s decision. \u201cIf we fight over the past, someone else will win the future. Ukraine\u2019s president should finally understand that. Poland\u2019s president should as well. Before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n The controversy comes at an awkward moment for Kyiv. This week, Ukraine moved<\/a> forward in its formal EU accession process, opening a new phase in its bid for membership. Against that backdrop, the naming decision risks undermining the work of Ukrainian diplomats who have spent years persuading European partners that Ukraine belongs inside the European political family. According<\/a> to Lukasz Adamski, director of the Mieroszewski Centre, the naming of the military unit is likely driven primarily by domestic considerations. In Ukraine, the UPA is widely viewed as part of a broader tradition of anti-Russian resistance and the struggle for independence. But, he argues, such gestures undermine Kyiv\u2019s own diplomatic efforts. \u201cOne such move weakens their efforts and provides fuel to those forces in Poland that oppose supporting Ukraine,\u201d Adamski said. The solidarity that followed Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion never erased the disagreements over Volhynia and the UPA. It merely pushed them down the political agenda. As the immediate shock of the invasion recedes, those unresolved issues keep resurfacing. It is likely that Zelensky is acting on an assumption that strategic interests will ultimately prevail in bilateral relations. Kyiv may calculate that Polish-Ukrainian cooperation is too important to be fundamentally derailed by another historical dispute. Since 2022, tensions over grain imports, border transport, exhumations and historical memory have repeatedly strained relations, yet military and strategic cooperation endured. Whether that calculation proves correct may depend on how many more such disputes both sides are willing to absorb.<\/p>\n