Poland is at the center of a new test for Wołodymyr Zełenski, who is expected to decide whether to attend the Thursday URC in Gdańsk. The choice has become the sharpest pending issue in the Poland-Kyiv crisis, with some Polish and Ukrainian interlocutors reading his appearance as a way to ease the dispute and his absence as a signal that it is worsening.
Wirtualna Polska reported that Ukrainian authorities had already prepared a plan for Zełenski to return the Order of the White Eagle, and Biuro Prezydenta had sent instructions in advance on returning Polish decorations. The conference itself is set to draw several thousand participants, with representatives of the IMF, the World Bank and the European Commission among those expected in Gdańsk.
Biuro Prezydenta and the order plan
The sequence began earlier, when Ukrainian authorities had a ready plan for Zełenski to return the Order of the White Eagle. Biuro Prezydenta had prepared instructions for officials on returning Polish decorations, and former presidents agreed on joint actions, according to the text. That preparation showed the dispute had moved beyond rhetoric and into concrete protocol.
Earlier, Petro Poroszenko returned the Order of the White Eagle in a protest gesture. On social media, Poroszenko wrote: "Paczki z orderami pojechały do Warszawy. Wszyscy wylaliśmy zrozumiałe emocje. A teraz wszyscy musimy się uspokoić".
Petro Poroszenko pushes calm
Poroszenko used a second post to argue against letting the dispute harden into a wider break. He wrote: "Polska to nasz strategiczny sąsiad, sojusznik i państwo, przez które przechodzi ogromna część naszego bezpieczeństwa. To logistyczny hub zaopatrzenia naszych sił zbrojnych i kraj, od którego w dużej mierze zależy nasze wejście do UE i NATO. Dlatego ukraińsko-polskie relacje nie mogą być placem zabaw dla wzajemnych obraźliwych gestów i politycznej gry na emocjach".
That message matters because it sets out the practical stakes of the dispute in security and integration terms. Poroszenko described Poland as Ukraine's strategic neighbor, ally and logistics hub for supplying the armed forces, and linked Ukraine's path into the EU and NATO to Poland's role. His appeal for calm stands against sharper readings in Poland.
Polish reaction before Thursday
One Polish analyst said that if Zełenski does not come, most Polish politicians, including some who support Ukraine, would be alienated. One Polish politician went further, saying that a non-arrival would be a diplomatic image disaster and would be taken as an insult to Poland. An anonymous Ukrainian politician offered the counterpoint by saying he would go to the conference because it is an international event and not only a Polish one, adding that the event was largely supported by Donald Tusk's government.
The US embassy in Kyiv expressed concern about the escalation of the conflict, and signals about that concern were passed to representatives of Biuro Prezydenta Ukrainy. That reaction shows the dispute is being watched well beyond Warszawa and Kijów, but the immediate pressure point remains the same: whether Zełenski appears in Gdańsk on Thursday.
The conference will now serve as the first real test of whether the two capitals can lower the temperature without another public rupture. If Zełenski attends, the dispute gets a chance to cool in a room already filled with European and financial institutions; if he stays away, the criticism in Poland is likely to sharpen before the participants leave Gdańsk.
