Karol Nawrocki's office said the Polish president was not invited to and will not attend the Ukraine reconstruction conference in Gdansk, and Volodymyr Zelensky also will not be there.
The rupture followed Zelensky's May 26 decree giving an elite unit the honorary name "Heroes of the UPA," a reference tied in Poland to the 1943-44 massacres of tens of thousands of Polish civilians.
Nawrocki escalated the dispute by stripping Zelensky of Poland's Order of the White Eagle, prompting Ukrainian figures including Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to return Polish state honors.
The boycott lands as Prime Minister Donald Tusk aims to use the conference to sign about 200 Polish-Ukrainian business agreements and raise reconstruction funding for a country still under nightly Russian attack.
The clash threatens a key wartime partnership: Poland remains the main transit route for most Western weapons and supplies to Ukraine, making any deeper split a strategic gain for Moscow.
Can Poland and Ukraine's shared fight against Russia survive their battle over historical memory?
With a key alliance fracturing over history, is Russia winning the war without firing a shot?
Poland-Ukraine Crisis 2026: Historical Memory, Diplomatic Rupture, and the Battle for European Unity
Overview
In June 2026, a major diplomatic crisis erupted between Poland and Ukraine after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle. This symbolic move was triggered by Ukraine naming a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a group accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles during World War II. Nawrocki argued that honoring the UPA had significance beyond Ukraine’s borders and stressed the importance of remembering Polish history. In response, Zelensky returned the award and skipped a key recovery conference, highlighting how unresolved historical wounds can strain even the closest alliances.