Poland Considers Stripping Zelensky of Order of the White Eagle Over UPA Unit Naming

Ukraine’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) has triggered a major diplomatic fallout with Poland, reopening a dispute over World War Two-era history.

“- Published Ukraine is facing a major diplomatic fallout with key ally Poland, after Kyiv decided to name a military unit after controversial World War Two fighters, reopening a painful chapter from the past”

BBC

BBC reports that Polish President Karol Nawrocki is considering stripping Volodymyr Zelensky of Poland’s highest state honour, the Order of the White Eagle, after Zelensky issued a decree late last month naming a Special Operations Forces unit after the UPA.

BBC

The BBC says Poland accuses the UPA of carrying out a genocide of ethnic Poles in Volhynia (now Volyn in Ukraine) in 1943-45, while “Many in Ukraine regard the UPA's members as heroes who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Soviet Red Army as well as Nazi Germany and Polish authorities.”

The BBC adds that Zelensky said he was using the UPA’s name “with the aim of restoring the historical traditions of the national army,” and that Nawrocki condemned the decree as “glorification of bandits and killers.”

The BBC reports that Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, travelled to Warsaw last weekend following Nawrocki’s threat to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, but “it appears his trip failed” after Nawrocki gathered the council of the Order to discuss the issue further.

In parallel, European Pravda says the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle considered a request from Nawrocki on 8 June to revoke Zelensky’s award, and that the meeting ended without any specific consequences.

PeaceLink

European Pravda also says the Polish presidential office declined to publish the body’s conclusions, stating only that President Nawrocki would "make a decision at the appropriate time".

The BBC further reports that Prime Minister Donald Tusk later admitted that “diplomacy has yielded no results,” and that Tusk urged Kyiv to look for solutions, warning that “If not, it will mean that not empathy but hard business will determine our relations.”

The BBC says discontent among Poles already threatens to overshadow an upcoming conference on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction scheduled later this month in the northern Polish city of Gdansk, and that Poland’s foreign minister has indicated Zelensky may choose not to attend.

“Il ministro della Difesa polacco Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz ha dichiarato il 15 ottobre che Varsavia aveva tentato, senza successo, di formare un corpo d'armata ucraino, poiché il numero di volontari disposti ad arruolarsi e combattere in Ucraina era venti volte inferiore alle aspettative”

Vietnam.vn

European Pravda frames the dispute as a “trap for Karol Nawrocki,” arguing that threats to limit or suspend assistance have lost effectiveness as Kyiv’s dependence on Polish support has decreased.

European Pravda adds that a prolonged crisis casts doubt on promises by Polish politicians to secure especially favorable conditions for Polish businesses participating in Ukraine’s reconstruction, while also strengthening fears that Ukraine’s foreign policy could become increasingly oriented towards Berlin rather than Warsaw.

In the same BBC account, Tusk says “Co-operation serves the interest of both our states and nations, while conflict serves Moscow's interests,” and the BBC notes that the Order of the White Eagle bestowed on Zelensky in 2023 by then President Andrzej Duda can be revoked if he is deemed to have "committed an act making them unworthy" of the honour.