Polish Order of the White Eagle controversy
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The Polish Order of the White Eagle controversy started on 19 June 2026, when the Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped the Polish Order of the White Eagle from the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Zelenskyy has awarded one of the Ukrainian military units with the honorary title "Heroes of the UPA".[a] UPA committed massacres in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, the Lublin region, and the Subcarpathian region, killing over 100,000 Poles, Jews, or members of other minorities.[4][5][6] Nawrocki was deliberating this move since the end of May.[7] Motivating his decision Nawrocki has said that "For the overwhelming majority of Polish society, the UPA remains, above all, a formation responsible for the brutal crimes committed against citizens of the Republic of Poland during World War Two".[8] Polish journalist Andrzej Pawluszek remarks: "Nawrocki was careful to draw a line between Ukraine’s people and the symbols chosen by Ukraine’s state. His decision was not directed against Ukrainians defending their country. It did not cancel Poland’s support for Ukraine against Russian aggression".[9] The Ukrainian historians highlight that the Poles (e.g. members of the Polish Home Army) in 1942–1945 killed approximately 17,000−24,000 Ukrainians, including civilians (e.g. Pawłokoma massacre).[10][11] Upon sending the Order through a postage office to the Polish Presidential Chancellery, Zelensky has wrote on the social media that Ukraine "remain open to all meaningful formats of engagement with Poland in order to try to avoid conflicting interpretations of the difficult and painful chapters of our shared past" and also in an interview said that "if it is considered that this special symbol may remain with Catherine II, Benito Mussolini, and Gerhard Schröder, then we in Ukraine will not argue with that".[8][12]
In solidarity with Zelenskyy, three other former Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko voluntarily renounced and returned their Orders of the White Eagle to Poland.[13] As a result of Nawrocki's decision, Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, had also voluntarily renounced and returned his Gold Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland to Poland, criticized Nawrocki's decision of stripping the Order from Zelenskyy by saying that it is "historically unjust" and "a gift to the Moscow aggressor", and he also highlighted that the Order has still not been stripped from the Italian fascist dictator and Adolf Hitler's accomplice Benito Mussolini.[14][15] The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland was also voluntarily renounced and returned to Poland by Andrii Sybiha, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland, by showcasing their support to Zelenskyy in conflict with Nawrocki.[16][17] Speaking about Nawrocki's decision, Sibiha has said that "No president of another country is going to dictate our history to us."[18]