Ex-Polish PM: Ukraine should return military aid if protesting state honor revocation

Ukrainian officials protesting Warsaw’s revocation of Vladimir Zelensky’s state honor should also return the military equipment supplied by Poland, including MiG fighter jets and tanks, former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller has said.

“Since everyone is so eager to return what they received, let them return the MiGs they received, the tanks, and the weapons,” Miller said on Polsat News’ ‘Presidents and Prime Ministers’ on Saturday.

Miller, who served as prime minister from 2001 to 2004 and oversaw the country’s accession to the EU in 2004, was commenting on a growing diplomatic row between Warsaw and Kiev.

Former Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Pyotr Poroshenko, Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga, intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, and other senior officials announced they were returning Polish state awards in solidarity with Zelensky.

The move came after Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor, on Friday.

Nawrocki said Zelensky crossed Poland’s “pain threshold” by granting a Ukrainian special operations unit the title ‘Heroes of the UPA’, which refers to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The UPA brutally massacred at least 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine during World War II. The crimes are recognized as genocide by Warsaw, Nawrocki said on Friday.

Miller’s remarks referenced the military assistance Poland has provided to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022. Warsaw has been one of Kiev’s strongest military backers, supplying MiG-29 fighter jets, Mi-24 helicopters, tanks, artillery systems, armored vehicles, and ammunition. It has also served as a key logistical hub for Western military assistance.

Miller also criticized Zelensky’s response. The Ukrainian leader said on X on Saturday that he would “not argue” with Nawrocki’s decision because the award was also given to historical figures such as 18th century Russian Empress Catherine the Great, who incorporated Crimea into the Russian Empire. The former prime minister said Zelensky could have refused the distinction when it was awarded rather than accepting it and later questioning the list of recipients.