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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Poland to show more respect for Ukraine after agreeing to Warsaw’s demand that he return its highest state honour in a dispute that stretches back to the second world war.
The Ukrainian president said on Saturday that he would “not argue” with the decision of Polish president Karol Nawrocki to strip him of the Order of the White Eagle that he received in 2023. But he took a swipe at Poland by listing controversial past recipients who have kept Poland’s award, including Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini and the pro-Russian former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
The row started last month when Zelenskyy renamed one of his country’s special forces units as “heroes of the UPA” — the acronym for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The UPA fought for Ukrainian independence but remains controversial in Poland for its role in the Volhynia massacres, in which about 100,000 ethnic Poles were killed during the second world war in what is now Ukraine.
“We believed that the Order of the White Eagle, awarded in 2023, was meant for the Ukrainian People and our army . . . I believe the future will confirm the respect Ukrainians deserve,” Zelenskyy said on X on Saturday.
In his statement he included pictures of the medal about to be shipped from a Kyiv post office.
“If it is considered that this special symbol may remain with [Russian empress] Catherine II, Benito Mussolini, and Gerhard Schröder, then we in Ukraine will not argue with that,” Zelenskyy added.
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After Russia launched its all-out attack on Ukraine in 2022 Poland spearheaded western aid to Kyiv, providing military equipment and acting as the gateway for millions of refugees who fled the conflict.
The UPA dispute has cast a cloud over an international conference to prepare Ukraine’s postwar recovery that Poland will host next week in Gdańsk, the home city of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Zelenskyy’s return of the award could help to avoid embarrassing Tusk, who would have had to decide whether to countersign Nawrocki’s decision. While Tusk has also criticised Zelenskyy for violating Poland’s “historical sensitivity”, he has mostly called on the two presidents to ease bilateral tensions and not play into Russia’s hands.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said Nawrocki’s decision, which was confirmed on Friday, was a “strategic mistake . . . that will only benefit Moscow”, adding that he would return a Polish decoration he had received in October 2022.
Kyiv initially attempted to calm the row but a visit to Warsaw by Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov failed to end the dispute after Polish officials demanded Kyiv remove the UPA name.
Several other Ukrainian officials said they would renounce their Polish decorations after Nawrocki’s decision.
Budanov said he would return the Order of Merit received from Poland last year. Three former Ukrainian presidents, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko, announced on Saturday they had also renounced the Order of the White Eagle received during their respective presidencies.
Source:
www.ft.com
