WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A decision by the Polish president to strip Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor was beneficial to Moscow, which has an interest in seeing Kyiv in conflict with its allies, Ukrainian officials said.
President Karol Nawrocki announced Friday he will strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle over the Ukrainian leader’s decision to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during World War II.
Former Polish President Andrzej Duda bestowed the award on Zelenskyy in 2023 for services to security, resilience and the defense of human rights.
Zelenskyy issued a decree on May 26 naming a military unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and has been accused in Poland of mass killings.
“For the majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains above all a formation responsible for cruel crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II,” Nawrocki said in a 13-minute address on social media.
The decision to revoke the honor did not mean Poland’s support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia would decrease, Nawrocki said.
The Ukrainian decision was met with widespread criticism in Poland. However, Nawrocki is a nationalist politician who has exploited anti-Ukrainian sentiment for electoral gain. Ukrainians in Poland have been facing increasing prejudice despite their contribution to the economy.
Ukrainian Presidential Office chief Kyrylo Budanov wrote on Telegram that Nawrocki's decision was “an unfriendly act toward our people” and “a gift to the Moscow aggressor, which will certainly use it against both of our countries.”
Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the step “a strategic mistake by the President of Poland, one that benefits only Moscow.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar said the decision was “especially painful” as Ukrainians battle missile and drone attacks.
The three Ukrainian officials, as well as Budanov's deputy, Ihor Zhovkva, said they would return state honors that Poland had issued them. Some have criticized Ukraine's response.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s former prime minister, wrote on X Saturday that one “harmful and incorrect decision by the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by other incorrect decisions of ours.”
Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction next week, which Zelenskyy is expected to attend.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political rival of Nawrocki, urged the two leaders to “tone down emotions, not stoke tensions.”
“The front line runs elsewhere,” Tusk wrote on social media Friday night, adding that the conflict between Poland and Ukraine “delights Putin and shocks our allies.”
Zelenskyy’s May decree said the designation was meant to restore the historical traditions of the national military and recognize the unit’s performance in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.
The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence against both Nazi Germany and Soviet forces. But it has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles, most in the Nazi-occupied regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognized the crimes committed by UPA as genocide.
Ukrainians say armed formations on both sides, including the UPA and Polish underground forces, were involved in attacks and reprisals that led to large-scale civilian casualties among Poles and Ukrainians.
Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on the issue of exhumation of Polish victims. A December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw had signaled progress on historical reconciliation.
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Yurchuk reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
