Poland's Government Criticizes President for Revoking Zelenskyy's Top Medal

WARSAW — Poland’s center-right government is accusing nationalist President Karol Nawrocki of making a strategic blunder by stripping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Warsaw’s most prestigious medal: the Order of the White Eagle.

Nawrocki withdrew the award late on Friday to protest the naming of a Ukrainian military unit last month after a World War II-era force that massacred tens of thousands of Poles.

For the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the priority is to maintain Poland’s frontline role as a key ally to Kyiv in the fight against their common archenemy: Russia. Warsaw’s close ties to Kyiv have raised its diplomatic heft since the the war broke out in 2022 and put Polish investors in a prime position to be involved in reconstruction.

The severity of the diplomatic fallout will likely become clear soon, when Zelenskyy decides whether to attend this week’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in the northern Polish city of Gdańsk. Tusk had touted the conference as an opportunity to “take stock of the first concrete results of our Polish-Ukrainian cooperation.”

However, by late Monday afternoon it was still unclear whether Zelenskyy was going to attend, throwing Polish efforts to lead on postwar Ukraine-EU relations in doubt.

“Getting entangled in the political conflict between politicians in Poland and Ukraine is a strategic mistake that will cost both sides: in business, geopolitically and reputationally,” wrote Tusk on social media on Sunday.

“And in politics, as is well known, a mistake is worse than a crime,” he added.

Finance Minister Andrzej Domański also stressed over the weekend that smooth ties between Warsaw and Kyiv would have commercial benefits.

“Polish companies want to do business in Ukraine, they want contracts, including contracts linked to Ukraine’s reconstruction,” he said.

“And that is the purpose of the conference in Gdańsk. Our goal is to ensure that Polish companies, also thanks to this conference, have a guaranteed place in the distribution of contracts related to Ukraine’s reconstruction,” added Domański.

Nawrocki revoked the Order of the White Eagle from Zelenskyy on Friday, after the Ukrainian leader named an army unit after “Heroes of the UPA” in May.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was a World War II-era formation that tried to establish an independent Ukrainian state and serves as an inspiration in the war against Russia. It was responsible for killing tens of thousands of Poles from 1943 to 1945 in what Poland has consistently called a genocide, which Ukraine denies. Poland also carried out smaller-scale reprisals in which thousands of Ukrainians died.

Nawrocki’s decision has quickly soured relations between the two allies.

Several Ukrainian officials renounced their Polish accolades. Three former Ukrainian presidents — Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko — all gave up their Orders of the White Eagle.

Nawrocki insisted his move did not represent a shift in Poland’s strategic policy in the war.

Zelenskyy has since sent his order back to Poland.

The Ukrainian president told media on Sunday evening that Nawrocki “acted like [former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán” and insisted the decision was rooted in political infighting ahead of next year’s election in Poland.