When Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he would strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, the top award given by Poland, Zelensky didn’t stay silent. He publicly returned the medal in a short statement that impressed both sides and sent a big message that the close bond between the two countries is hard to break.
Why the drama? Kharkiv’s government recently renamed a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a 1940s guerrilla group that fights for Ukrainian independence. In Poland, the UPA is remembered as a group that carried out massacres against Polish civilians in Volhynia. That memory still hurts Polish people, so Nawrocki called the name change “outrageous” and “deeply disappointing.”
Zelensky’s action, returning the medal, is part of a broader move by some Ukrainian senior officials to give back Polish gifts. They want to show solidarity while keeping the diplomatic bridge open. In a tweet, Zelensky said the country would stay open for “meaningful formats of engagement” with Poland, hoping to avoid misunderstandings about their history.
Even as the row heats up, Poland is still a lifeline for Ukraine. It hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees and supplies supplies for Ukrainian troops. In response, the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, warned that a fight between the two leaders would only delight Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He urged both sides to stay calm and not fan up tensions.
Meanwhile Ukraine is pushing toward the European Union and just finished the first phase of membership talks in Luxembourg. That shows the bigger picture: even as old wounds flare, Ukraine stays committed to becoming part of the European family and fighting for its future with the help of allies like Poland.
