Ukraine’s second president, Leonid Kuchma, said he is refusing the Order of the White Eagle, which he was awarded in 1997.
He explained the decision as a response to Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s move to strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state award.
“In connection with the decision of Polish President Karol Nawrocki to deprive the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of the Polish Order of the White Eagle, I have decided to refuse this order, which I had the honor of receiving in 1997,” Kuchma said.
He recalled that during his presidency, building friendly relations with Poland was one of his key priorities. According to Kuchma, he and then-Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski paid special attention to resolving historical issues between the two nations.
Kuchma mentioned their joint 2003 statement on reconciliation and the principle of “we forgive and ask for forgiveness,” which he said was developed with the spiritual mediation of Pope John Paul II.
“For decades, this principle worked. True friendship between Ukraine and Poland became a reality. It was confirmed by the invaluable assistance that Poland provided to Ukraine from the first hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion,” Kuchma said.
He stressed that Nawrocki’s current “unfriendly step” cannot erase everything that has been done in relations between Ukraine and Poland. At the same time, Kuchma said he now has no other choice but to refuse the Polish award.
“Ukraine did not take up the fight against Russia, which justified its invasion with historical claims, only for other countries today to dictate our history to us and decide whom we should honor,” Ukraine’s second president said.
Kuchma added that he believes friendship and allied relations between Ukraine and Poland will be preserved, but the current situation fills him with “sadness and concern.”
“It is one thing when an enemy attacks. It is quite another when hostility separates friends. And it is even more frightening when these friends also face a common danger,” he stressed.
According to Kuchma, Ukraine and Poland must remember history, but the past must not be more important than the future.
“The burning, sharp, but phantom pain of an old tragedy must not blind us so much that we fail to see the real, present threat of the imperial force in the East,” he said.
Kuchma emphasized that Ukraine and Poland “need each other as never before,” and that politicians in both countries must understand this.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said he had sent the Order of the White Eagle by mail to Polish President Karol Nawrocki. The Ukrainian president stressed that Kyiv had regarded the award as addressed not only to him personally, but also to the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army.
Andrii Sybiha, Kyrylo Budanov and Vasyl Bodnar have also said they would give up their Polish awards.
