Sybiga urged historians to handle contested past issues and warned Kyiv will mirror any recent disrespectful Polish actions, signaling rising diplomatic tensions.<\/p>\n
Ukraine states that it does not seek to escalate tensions with Poland, but will not allow anyone to dictate Ukraine\u2019s history, the portrayal of Ukrainian soldiers, or the right of the people to have their own historical narrative. Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga emphasized the importance of avoiding politicization of sensitive questions of the past and focusing on dialogue.<\/p>\n
According to the Foreign Ministry head\u2019s position, it is now critically important to refrain from political speculation around history, as \u201cYes, there were difficult pages, but let historians discuss them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, there were difficult pages, but let historians discuss them.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Andriy Sibiga<\/p>\n
Moreover, Sibiga pointed out that the disrespect toward the President of Ukraine is not only a matter of orders. In his words, it is also disrespect toward the Ukrainian soldier, the people, and the right of the country to have its own history.<\/p>\n
No president of another state will dictate our history to us anymore<\/p>\n
\u2013 Andriy Sibiga<\/p>\n
The minister stressed that Kyiv will respond in kind to any unfriendly or demeaning steps toward Ukraine. In his words, the time for turning a blind eye has passed, and the Ukrainian side has made clear that the principle of sovereign history must remain outside politics.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Sibiga said that President Karol Nawrocki has become one of those who, in his view, \u201care destroying those positive developments\u201d that Kyiv and Warsaw have achieved recently. According to the Foreign Minister, he stressed that Nawrocki \u201creceives applause from Moscow.\u201d Such statements reflect tension in the interstate dialogue and the reaction to political moves on historical issues.<\/p>\n
List of decisions and reactions regarding Polish honors<\/p>\n
On June 19, Karol Nawrocki announced the stripping of Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle. In response, Andriy Sibiga stated a refusal of the Commander\u2019s Cross with the Star of the Order \u201cFor Merit to Poland.\u201d Also, incumbent Ukrainian officials and former leaders declined Polish decorations: Kyrylo Budanov, Ihor Zhovkva, and Vasyl Bodnar.<\/p>\n
On June 20, a refusal of the White Eagle orders was also voiced by former Presidents of Ukraine \u2013 Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko.<\/p>\n
In the context of domestic politics, a renewed document appeared regarding the name of the Special Operations Forces unit: \u201cNamed after the Heroes of the UPA.\u201d<\/p>\n
On May 26, the President of Ukraine issued Decree No. 440\/2026, which, in particular, conferred the honorary name \u201cNamed after the Heroes of the UPA\u201d upon the Separate Center for Special Operations \u201cNorth.\u201d The document stated the aim of restoring the historical traditions of the national armed forces. This initiative caused a sharp reaction in Poland: Nawrocki proposed stripping the Ukrainian colleague of the Order of the White Eagle. The decree also provoked outrage among some Polish historians and politicians, who voiced concerns about the role of the UPA in Volyn and Eastern Galicia, pointing to genocide and a lack of confidence in the final assessments.<\/p>\n
Former Polish leader Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa, who had previously supported Ukraine, also expressed his rejection of the decision and said he would remove the breast badge in the colors of the Ukrainian flag that he had worn since the start of the full-scale invasion. He wrote on Facebook that the President of Ukraine, honoring the UPA bandits, insulted him and all of our fallen compatriots.<\/p>\n
On June 5, Donald Tusk, then-Prime Minister of Poland, stressed the need to seek a solution to resolve the dispute and warned that the division of public opinion and government circles over the past would not be allowed, emphasizing the importance of mutual understanding between the countries.<\/p>\n
Reacting to these statements, Andriy Sibiga stressed: Ukrainian soldiers chose this name for themselves and did not have anti-Polish intentions or to insult Poles. He reaffirmed Kyiv\u2019s position on preserving a sovereign history and responding to unfriendly moves in a bilateral format.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, Ukraine continues to defend the right to its own history and believes that any special steps by other states must be justified and respectful. The memory policy remains a sphere of dialogue, and Kyiv is ready to respond according to circumstances, preserving the sovereignty and dignity of the Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sybiga urged historians to handle contested past issues and warned Kyiv will mirror any recent disrespectful Polish actions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1258,3929,3930,82,799,3892],"class_list":["post-7913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-andriy-sybiga","tag-awards-dispute","tag-historical-memory","tag-news","tag-ukraine-poland-relations","tag-upa-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}