Polish President Karol Nawrocki decided to withdraw the highest Polish state award, the Order of the White Eagle, from his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. the office of the President of Poland announced on Friday.
Nawrocki responded to Zelensky’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which it committed many atrocities during the Second World War. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the PAP agency and the Polsat News portal.
In May, Zelenskyy adopted a decree recognizing the UPA as “heroes”. While Ukraine considers the group an anti-Soviet resistance movement, Poland attributes responsibility for the Volyn massacre, deportations of Jews and violence, in which it continued in southeastern Poland, northeastern Slovakia and western Ukraine even after the end of the Second World War.
The President of Poland then stated that he requested to include this issue in the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the White Eagle Council Chapter. On Friday, Nawrocki said that the decision of the Ukrainian president interferes with the Ukrainian-Polish friendship, which has been built for many years, PAP informed. He therefore decided to withdraw the highest Polish state award from Zelensky. Zelensky was awarded this honor in 2023 by Nawrocký’s predecessor in the office of president, Andrzej Duda.
