Why Poland’s President Wants to Revoke Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle

The decree that started the crisis

Zelensky's decree, which entered into force on May 26, was issued "with the aim of reviving the historical traditions of the national army" . The title "Heroes of the UPA" was awarded to a special forces unit that had seen active combat against Russian forces. From Kyiv's perspective, the UPA represents a tradition of Ukrainian armed resistance for national independence. However, the Polish historical memory is fundamentally different. The UPA was the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and is held responsible by Poland for the Volhynia genocide, a campaign of ethnic cleansing that killed an estimated 100,000 Poles between 1943 and 1945 . Many of the victims were women and children.

This historical divergence has been a persistent source of tension in bilateral relations, but Zelensky's decision to formally honor the UPA through an active-duty military unit represented, in Poland's eyes, an escalation that could not go unanswered.

Nawrocki's call for revocation

On May 29, President Karol Nawrocki addressed reporters in Warsaw and announced that he had formally proposed the revocation of Zelensky's Order of the White Eagle. The order is Poland's highest and oldest state decoration; Zelensky received it from then-President Andrzej Duda during a state visit to Warsaw on April 5, 2023 .

"I proposed that one of the items on the agenda be the revocation of President Zelensky's Order of the White Eagle," Nawrocki said, adding that the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle, the advisory council that oversees the decoration, will convene on June 8 to discuss the matter .

Nawrocki described himself as "outraged" by Zelensky's decision and stated plainly that "Zelensky has shown that Ukraine, mentally, is not ready to be part of the European family" . He also warned that "glorifying the UPA has provided Russian propaganda with ample oxygen for disinformation," explicitly linking the domestic honor to the broader information war surrounding the conflict .

Despite the severity of his reaction, Nawrocki was careful to note that supporting Ukraine against Russia remained a strategic goal for Poland . The revocation proposal thus sits in an uncomfortable space where historical reckoning and geopolitical necessity collide.

A unified political and diplomatic response

The speed and breadth of Poland's institutional reaction underscored how deeply Zelensky's decree cut across the country's normally divided political landscape.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement on May 29 declaring itself "indignant" at the decision. The ministry described the naming as a "deeply regrettable choice" that "hurts the memory of the victims" of the UPA and "strikes at the dialogue between our nations." In a pointed strategic warning, the statement added that the decision "can be used by Russian propaganda to weaken Polish-Ukrainian relations and undermine the strategic partnership" .

State Secretary Marcin Bosacki summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar on May 28 to express "profound dissatisfaction." The same message was delivered the following day by Polish chargé d'affaires in Kyiv Piotr Łukasiewicz to Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleksandr Mischenko .

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, speaking from the Sejm, said Zelensky's move "wounds our historical sensitivity" and called it "worrying from the point of view of the security of Polish-Ukrainian relations" . Tusk confirmed that the Ukrainian ambassador had been summoned in response to the decree .

The breadth of condemnation—from the conservative presidency to the centrist prime minister to the foreign ministry's professional diplomatic corps—suggested a consensus that went beyond partisan positioning and touched something fundamental in Poland's national memory.

Lech Wałęsa's extraordinary personal reaction

Perhaps the most visceral response came from Lech Wałęsa, the former president, Solidarity leader, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who had been a visible supporter of Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, regularly appearing in public with a Ukrainian flag pin on his lapel.

In a Facebook post published on May 28, Wałęsa wrote: "The President of Ukraine, by honoring the bandits of the UPA, insulted me and all our murdered countrymen. In connection with this, I publicly took off the Ukrainian flag from my chest" .

He added a significant personal distinction: "I will continue to help the nation in its fight against the Soviets. But I refuse to support President Zelensky" . The statement drew a line between the Ukrainian people, whom Wałęsa said he would continue to support, and the Ukrainian president, from whom he was withdrawing a personal political endorsement that had carried considerable weight since the war began.

Polish media outlets widely reported and amplified Wałęsa's gesture, with several noting that he had worn the Ukrainian flag pin continuously since February 2022 . The removal of that symbol—by a figure whose own legacy is intimately tied to resistance against oppression—carried powerful resonance in Polish public discourse.

Why this crisis is different

While Poland and Ukraine have clashed before over history—particularly over the legacy of the Volhynia massacres, exhumation of victims, and competing national narratives—this crisis differs in both depth and timing.

First, the decree came from Ukraine's wartime president himself, not from a regional official or a fringe nationalist group. The formal, state-level nature of the honor made it impossible for Polish officials to dismiss as marginal or unofficial.

Second, the reaction was instantaneous and institution-wide. Previous historical disputes have often seen Poland's government voice concern while opposition figures remained quiet or vice versa. This time, the presidency, prime minister's office, and foreign ministry acted in rapid coordination, and an icon of Poland's democratic opposition joined them within hours.

Third, the strategic context is uniquely fragile. Poland has been one of Ukraine's most important logistical and military backers since 2022, serving as a primary hub for Western weapon transfers and hosting millions of Ukrainian refugees. Any deterioration in the bilateral relationship has immediate consequences for Ukraine's war effort—and the Polish Foreign Ministry's warning about Russian propaganda exploitation of the rift was not rhetorical but operational .

The Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle will meet on June 8, and whether Zelensky is formally stripped of the honor remains to be seen. But the damage to the political trust between Warsaw and Kyiv has already been done, and the repair effort will require navigating a historical wound that neither side has been willing to fully address.