Jo Harper
29 May 2026•Update: 29 May 2026
- Zelenskyy signed decree on May 26 granting special operations unit honorary title of 'Heroes of the UPA,' as part of efforts to restore historical traditions of Ukraine's military forces, causing outrage across Poland's political spectrum
Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Friday announced plans to seek the revocation of the Order of the White Eagle awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Kyiv named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the nationalist formation responsible for massacres of tens of thousands of ethnic Poles during World War II.
The move marks the latest escalation in a long-running dispute over historical memory between Poland and Ukraine, at a time when Warsaw remains one of Kyiv’s key political and military backers against Russia.
Zelenskyy signed a decree on May 26 granting a special operations unit the honorary title of “Heroes of the UPA,” describing the decision as part of efforts to restore the historical traditions of Ukraine’s national military forces. The move immediately triggered outrage across Poland’s political spectrum.
Speaking on Friday, Nawrocki said he will begin procedures to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state distinction, which had been awarded to the Ukrainian leader by former President Andrzej Duda following Russia’s war in 2022.
“This decision wounds the memory of the victims,” Nawrocki said, arguing that honoring the UPA is incompatible with efforts to build genuine reconciliation between Poles and Ukrainians.
His comments echoed criticism already voiced by Poland’s Foreign Ministry, which said the decision “hurts the memory of the victims of the UPA” and damages dialogue between the two nations.
The UPA remains one of the most sensitive issues in Polish-Ukrainian relations. Between 1943 and 1945, UPA fighters carried out ethnic cleansing campaigns against Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Polish historians estimate that around 100,000 Poles were killed.
In Ukraine, however, sections of society view the UPA as part of the broader struggle for independence against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The dispute has become increasingly prominent since Nawrocki entered politics. A historian and former head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), he has repeatedly argued that historical issues should not be sidelined in the name of strategic cooperation with Kyiv.
During and after his presidential campaign, Nawrocki insisted that recognition of the victims of the Volhynia massacres would remain a central issue in relations with Ukraine.
The controversy also reflects a broader shift in Polish politics. While support for Ukraine remains strong, public fatigue over the war, disputes over agricultural imports, social benefits, and historical memory have complicated what was once an unusually unified pro-Ukrainian consensus.
Politicians associated with right-wing parties reacted furiously to Zelenskyy’s decision. Former Prime Minister Leszek Miller called it “spitting in the face” of Poles whose families were victims of the massacres and demanded that Nawrocki revoke Zelenskyy’s award. Former Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek described the move as a “scandal” and called for stronger diplomatic measures against Kyiv.
The row comes despite continued security cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv and repeated declarations by Nawrocki that Russia remains the aggressor in the war.
Since taking office, the Polish president has sought to combine support for Ukraine’s defense with a tougher stance on unresolved historical disputes and issues affecting Polish domestic interests.
