Poland's Nawrocki Moves to Revoke Zelenskyy's 2023 Top Honor Over UPA Unit Name
Updated
Updated · DW (English) · Jun 7
Poland's Nawrocki Moves to Revoke Zelenskyy's 2023 Top Honor Over UPA Unit Name
3 articles · Updated · DW (English) · Jun 7
Summary
June 8 will bring a review of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle after President Karol Nawrocki said he wants Poland’s highest honor withdrawn.
The move followed Zelenskyy’s May 26 decree giving a Ukrainian special forces unit the honorary name “Heroes of the UPA,” a reference Poland links to wartime massacres of more than 100,000 Poles.
Donald Tusk called the naming a violation of Poland’s historical sensibility but rejected escalation, warning that a prolonged Polish-Ukrainian quarrel would benefit the Kremlin.
Nawrocki’s push also pressures Tusk domestically, because any revocation decree needs the prime minister’s countersignature, forcing him to choose between ties with Kyiv and attacks from Poland’s right.
The clash revives long-muted historical grievances at a sensitive moment, with Poland still central to Ukraine’s war effort and hosting the June 25-26 Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk.
Will a dispute over WWII 'heroes' fracture the crucial Polish-Ukrainian alliance and derail Ukraine's recovery conference?
Can Kyiv's gesture on war victim exhumations mend ties with Warsaw before Russia exploits the growing rift?
Poland Moves to Revoke Zelenskyy’s Highest Honor: UPA Controversy Deepens Historic Rift and Threatens Polish-Ukrainian Alliance
Overview
In late May and early June 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a special forces unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a move that reignited historical tensions with Poland. The UPA is seen as a symbol of resistance in Ukraine but is deeply controversial in Poland due to its role in the Volhynia massacres, where around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists and thousands of Ukrainians died in reprisals. Zelenskyy’s decree caused outrage in Poland, straining bilateral relations and prompting Poland to consider revoking his Order of the White Eagle, its highest honor.