Zelenskyy returned Poland’s highest honor after the Polish president withdrew the historic dispute

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has returned Poland’s national honour, after the Polish president stripped him of the award as a political dispute over World War II history resurfaced.

Ukrainians believe the order was “made for the Ukrainian people and our army,” Zelenskyy wrote in a social media post explaining the move. “Today, I returned the order to the President of Poland. I believe that the future will ensure the proper respect for the Ukrainian people.”

The message published in X is accompanied by photos of the Polish order and a postal receipt that was to be sent by post to the Polish president’s office.

President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle over the Ukrainian leader’s decision to name the military after a Ukrainian military organization accused of killing Poles during World War II.

Former Polish President Andrzej Duda presented Zelenskyy with the award in 2023 for services to protection, stability and protection of human rights.

Zelenskyy issued a proclamation on May 26 naming a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Armed Forces, or UPA, which operated in the 1940s and 1950s and has been accused in Poland of mass killings.

“For the majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are still above all the bodies responsible for the brutal crimes against the citizens of the Polish Republic during World War II,” Nawrocki said in a 13-minute speech on social media.

The Ukrainian law was met with widespread criticism in Poland, which has hosted millions of Ukrainian refugees and is a key supporter of Kyiv as it fights a four-year Russian invasion. However, Nawrocki is a nationalist politician who used anti-Ukrainian sentiments to win the election. Ukrainians in Poland have been facing increasing discrimination despite their economic contribution.

The decision to withdraw the recognition does not mean that support for Poland and Ukraine in its defense against Russia will decrease, Nawrocki said.

Ukraine thanks Poland for its support, and will remain open to resolving historical differences with Poland, Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday in his post. “I am proud of my people and ALL Ukrainian heroes.”

The official of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov wrote in Telegram that Nawrocki’s decision was “an act unfriendly to our people” and “a gift to the torturer of Moscow, which we will use against both our countries.”

Four Ukrainian officials, including Budanov, said they would return the country’s medals awarded to Poland.

Some in Ukraine criticized the decision to restore Poland’s honor.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former prime minister of Ukraine, wrote in X that “the dangerous and wrong decision of the current president of Poland cannot be corrected by our other wrong decisions.”

Poland is scheduled to host a major event on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction next week, which Zelenskyy was expected to attend.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nawrocki’s political rival, called on the two leaders to “calm down, not remove tensions.”

“The front line is moving elsewhere,” Tusk wrote on social media Friday night, adding that the conflict between Poland and Ukraine “pleases Putin and shocks our allies.”

Zelenskyy’s May announcement said the post was designed to restore military traditions and recognize the unit’s performance in protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.

The UPA fought for the independence of Ukraine against Nazi Germany and Soviet forces. But it is accused of killing tens of thousands of Poles, mainly in the Nazi-controlled areas of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. In 2016, the Polish Parliament recognized the crimes committed by the UPA as genocide.

Ukrainians claim that armed groups on both sides, including the UPA and the Polish underground, were involved in attacks and reprisals that resulted in heavy civilian casualties between Poles and Ukrainians.

Poland and Ukraine had recently made progress on the exhumation of Polish victims. The December meeting between the two presidents in Warsaw marked progress in historic reconciliation.