Polish President Threatens to Revoke Zelenskyy’s Top State Honor Amid Ukraine Tensions

Poland has reacted with anger after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree renaming a military special forces unit “Heroes of the UPA,” a reference to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, whose legacy remains deeply controversial in Poland. While some Ukrainians view the UPA as symbols of resistance against Soviet rule and Nazi occupation, Polish officials say members of the group were involved in the Volhynia massacres of 1943-1945, when about 100,000 Poles were killed in territories that are now part of western Ukraine.

The decision has created a new strain in relations between Warsaw and Kyiv at a sensitive moment, even though Poland has been one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Former Polish President Andrzej Duda awarded Zelenskyy the Order of the White Eagle in 2023, Poland’s highest state honour, in recognition of Ukraine’s resistance against Russia and the close partnership between the two countries during the war.

Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, said he was “outraged” by the Ukrainian decree and announced that he had proposed the withdrawal of Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle. Nawrocki said the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle, the advisory body that oversees the award, will meet on June 8 to discuss the matter. His comments reflect a sharp rise in historical tensions that have resurfaced amid the war and the continued use of nationalist symbolism in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk also criticized the move, saying it “wounds our historical sensitivity” and is “worrying from the point of view of our relations.” His remarks underline concern in Warsaw that the dispute could complicate diplomatic ties at a time when Poland remains an essential transit route and military logistics hub for Western support to Ukraine.

The reaction has also spread beyond the political sphere. Lech Walesa, Poland’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning former president and a key figure in the fall of communism in 1989, said he had decided to stop wearing a Ukrainian flag pin because of the decree. In a Facebook post, he said that by honoring the UPA, Zelenskyy had insulted him and the memory of massacred Polish citizens. Walesa’s public protest signals how strongly the issue resonates among many Poles, for whom the historical wounds of the Volhynia killings remain unresolved.

At the same time, Zelenskyy appears to be using history to reinforce Ukrainian national identity during the ongoing war with Russia. Earlier this week, Kyiv repatriated the remains of a leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, the umbrella group that helped establish the UPA. That move and the unit renaming suggest an effort by Ukrainian authorities to elevate figures linked to anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi struggle, even as neighboring Poland sees such actions through the lens of wartime atrocities.

The dispute highlights the difficult balance between Ukraine’s wartime nationalism and Poland’s demand for historical accountability, threatening to complicate one of Europe’s most important regional alliances.