Overview
- Poland’s president stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle after Kyiv gave a special-operations unit an honorary name referencing the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, prompting Warsaw to call the UPA a formation responsible for wartime crimes.
- Ukrainian officials responded by returning or refusing Polish awards, with the head of the presidential office, the foreign minister, the ambassador to Poland and a deputy presidential chief all announcing they would give back their Polish honours.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk backed Hungary’s push to avoid language on an “accelerated” EU accession for Ukraine and said Poland will not recognise any ceasefire or peace deal that does not include Poland’s direct participation.
- Polish and Ukrainian public figures warned the row risks weakening allied solidarity and that the dispute over symbols and orders could be used by Russia to drive a wedge between the countries and erode support for Ukraine.
- The disagreement hinges on differing national memories of the UPA—seen in much of Ukraine as part of a liberation tradition and in Poland as tied to wartime massacres—and it could influence practical policies on trade, security cooperation and EU deliberations in Brussels.