Karol Nawrocki revoked Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle on Friday, making Zelensky Polish honour revoked the sharpest new move in the dispute between Poland and Ukraine. Nawrocki tied the decision to Zelenskyy’s consent for a Ukrainian army unit to use the name Heroes of the UPA.
The award had been given in 2023 by Andrzej Duda for Zelenskyy’s contributions to security, resilience, and the defense of human rights. Nawrocki said Poland had repeatedly asked Ukraine to change the unit’s name, and said the Ukrainian side’s position had not changed.
Order of the White Eagle
Nawrocki said, “Therefore, in light of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's consent to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 'Heroes of the UPA'... I have decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from the President of Ukraine.” He added that “Historical truth is not, and can never be, a bargaining chip. Remembering the victims is a moral obligation of the Polish state.”
The Order of the White Eagle is Poland’s highest award, so the revocation was not a routine symbolic gesture. It removed the country’s top honor from a foreign president after a dispute centered on how the UPA is remembered in Poland and Ukraine.
Heroes of the UPA
The dispute runs through World War II memory. Poland says the UPA was involved in massacres against Poles during World War II, while the UPA is also described as a military resistance organization that fought for Ukrainian independence against Nazi German and Soviet forces.
The UPA has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles during World War II, primarily in Nazi-occupied Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Nawrocki said revoking the honor did not mean that Poland would reduce its support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Warsaw and Kyiv
Andrii Sybiha said the decision to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle is “a strategic error by the President of Poland that only benefits Moscow.” Sybiha also said, “We regret that instead of looking for solutions, the Polish side decided to escalate this conflict to an unacceptable and inappropriate level,” and added, “No president of another country is going to dictate our history to us.”
Donald Tusk said the conflict between Poland and Ukraine “pleases (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and shocks our allies.” Tusk also said, “It is the task of Presidents Zelenskyy and Nawrocki to calm emotions, not to stoke tensions,” and added, “The front line lies elsewhere.”
Nawrocki made his decision just days before Poland was set to host the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, and it was unclear whether Zelenskyy would attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk. That leaves the immediate diplomatic test in the same place where the award dispute now lands: in the relationship between Poland and Ukraine.
