{"id":13423,"date":"2026-06-22T17:44:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/13423\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T17:44:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:44:25","slug":"historical-feud-threatens-to-derail-crucial-ukraine-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/13423\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical feud threatens to derail crucial Ukraine relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine<\/a> is now at odds with Poland<\/a>, one of its closest and most important allies in its effort to defeat Russian aggression, over their fraught historical relationship.<\/p>\n

The dispute centers on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s<\/a> decision last month to honor World War II Ukrainian national fighters who fought against the Soviet Union. The Poles consider the Ukrainian Insurgent Army responsible for what they remember as the Volhynia genocide. Since Zelensky signed the decree on May 26, Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he would revoke the country\u2019s highest state award, the Order of the White Eagle, which Zelensky received in April 2023.<\/p>\n

Zelensky\u2019s decision to honor these troops opened old wounds.<\/p>\n

Commemorating the insurgent army, also known as the UPA, is \u201coutrageous and damaging to trust between our nations,\u201d Nawrocki said in a statement Friday. \u201cThis is a blow not only to historical memory but also to the trust we have built over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelensky said he returned the award before Nawrocki could revoke it, while other Ukrainian leaders did the same. His chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and three former Ukrainian presidents said they would give up their awards as well. The Ukrainian leader pointed out that Poland didn\u2019t strip former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini or Gerhard Schroeder, the former chancellor of Germany, who was pro-Russian during his tenure.<\/p>\n

The dispute threatens one of Ukraine\u2019s most important alliances that it has come to rely on since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022. In addition to being along NATO\u2019s<\/a> eastern flank, much of the weapons the United States and Europe give to Ukraine have to travel through Poland to get to the besieged country. Poland also allowed millions of fleeing Ukrainians into its country immediately after Russia invaded.<\/p>\n

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the \u201cconflict\u201d between the countries \u201cdelights\u201d Russian leader Vladimir Putin<\/a> and \u201cshocks our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe task of Presidents Zelenskyy and Nawrocki is to calm emotions, not to stoke tensions. The front line runs elsewhere,\u201d he added. \u201cGetting entangled in the political conflict between politicians in Poland and Ukraine is a strategic mistake that will cost both sides: in business, geopolitically, and reputationally. And in politics, as is well known, a mistake is worse than a crime. In conversations with my European partners, I try to minimize the losses and reduce the tension. It is not an easy task.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UPA was formed in 1942 by the political wing of the mid-20th century independence movement. It initially collaborated with Nazi Germany, hoping that it would result in the creation of a Ukrainian state. When it became clear that wouldn\u2019t happen, the UPA began clashing with German occupying forces and the Soviets.<\/p>\n

RUTTE URGES NATO COUNTRIES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF UKRAINIAN \u2018WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of the UPA attacked Polish villages during and after World War II, which Ukrainians refer to as the Polish-Ukrainian war, while the Polish Parliament has designated it a genocide. Historians say the UPA\u2019s attacks amounted to ethnic cleansing against civilians in regions such as Eastern Galicia.<\/p>\n

The Russia-Ukraine full-scale war began more than four years ago and has long been a slow-moving, near-stalemate with high casualty rates. Ukraine has recently made strides on the battlefield beyond the front lines by targeting Russian supply lines and the country\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that the alliance is in a \u201cwindow of opportunity<\/a>\u201d to provide \u201cmore support focused on Ukraine\u2019s priorities\u201d to increase pressure on Russia following its recent battlefield successes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukraine is now at odds with Poland, one of its closest and most important allies in its effort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[361,698,4225,323,9,126,127,790],"class_list":["post-13423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-poland","tag-defense","tag-foreign-policy","tag-national-security","tag-nato","tag-poland","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-volodymyr-zelensky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}