Zelenskyy returns Poland's White Eagle after World War II row

Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent Poland’s Order of the White Eagle back by post, turning a dispute over wartime memory into a fresh test of one of Kyiv’s most important alliances. Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped him of the honor one day earlier, after a row ignited over a Ukrainian decree tied to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Zelenskyy said the decoration had been meant for the Ukrainian people and army, not for him alone. He attached photos of the award and the postal receipt when he posted the return on X. The honor had been awarded in 2023 by then-president Andrzej Duda for services to security, resilience and the defense of human rights.

At the center of the dispute is the UPA, a World War II-era nationalist force that Poland accuses of mass killings of Poles. Zelenskyy triggered the confrontation on May 26, 2026, when he named a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the group. Nawrocki called that unacceptable, saying the UPA is associated in most Polish minds with crimes against Polish civilians during World War II. Poland’s parliament has described the massacres in the territories now mainly in Ukraine as genocide, with the Volhynia killings of 1943 to 1945 the most cited grievance. An estimated 100,000 Poles were killed, including women and children.

The fallout has extended beyond symbolism. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Zelenskyy had not intended to offend Poland, but warned that the Ukrainian side lacked sensitivity. Tusk and Kyiv had urged Nawrocki not to escalate the dispute, which broke out less than a week before Poland was due to host the annual Ukraine Recovery Conference. Nawrocki has said the revocation does not mean Poland will reduce its support for Ukraine against Russia, but the episode comes as Polish solidarity has shown signs of strain after more than four years of war.

Ukrainian officials answered sharply. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called Nawrocki’s move a strategic mistake that would benefit only Moscow, and said he would return his own Polish state award, the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Kyrylo Budanov and Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, also said they would return Polish honors. Sybiha said Ukraine had spent about a year and a half trying to depoliticize historical disputes, expand academic and professional cooperation, and resume search and exhumation work, including operations at Huta Pieniacka at Poland’s request. The episode has exposed how unresolved grievances from the past can still unsettle a partnership that both sides say remains vital.