A debate continues in Poland over the possible revocation of the country’s highest state award, the Order of the White Eagle, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Polish Radio, Marcin Przydacz, minister in the Chancellery of the President of Poland, said the issue could be raised if Ukraine fails to take Poland’s position on historical issues related to the UPA into account.
At the same time, a number of Polish public figures and journalists have spoken out against such a move. Journalist and volunteer Jerzy Wójcik stressed that Poland and Ukraine share common strategic interests and that politicians should therefore act responsibly.
According to him, the main priority remains Ukraine’s victory in the war and the preservation of good-neighborly relations between the two countries.
Wójcik also called for recognizing the complexity of historical events and avoiding the transfer of historical disputes into contemporary Polish-Ukrainian relations.
Meanwhile, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that revoking the Order of the White Eagle from Volodymyr Zelenskyy would have serious consequences for bilateral relations.
According to Sikorski, such a step could effectively end the possibility of direct dialogue between the presidents of Poland and Ukraine. He also suggested that Poland’s president-elect Karol Nawrocki had realized the potential consequences of such statements.
The debate over historical memory and Polish-Ukrainian relations remains one of the most sensitive issues in political dialogue between the two countries.
At the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy granted the elite Independent Special Operations Center “North” the honorary name “Heroes of the UPA” with the stated goal of restoring the historical traditions of the national military.
On June 6, Wirtualna Polska, citing sources, reported that the Ukrainian side had proposed changing the name of the Special Operations Forces Center “North,” which had caused controversy in Poland. One proposal would reference only those UPA members who fought against the Soviet Union. The idea was reportedly discussed during a visit to Poland by the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov.
