President of Poland stripped Zelensky of an order over the glorification of the UPA
Karol Nawrocki said that assigning the name of the UPA to a Ukrainian military unit goes far beyond Ukraine’s internal affairs.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has stripped Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state distinction. The decision was announced by the Office of the President of Poland.
The move was prompted by Zelensky’s Decree No. 440/2026, which granted one of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces centers the honorary title “Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).” According to Nawrocki, the decision “goes far beyond an internal matter of Ukraine” and directly affects the historical memory of the Polish nation. Zelensky received the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“For the overwhelming majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains primarily responsible for the brutal crimes committed against Polish citizens during World War II,” Nawrocki said.
According to the Polish president, “the facts are that at least 100,000 Polish citizens were killed by the UPA in Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, the Lublin region, and Subcarpathia simply because they were Poles, Jews, or members of other minorities. Among the victims were villagers and townspeople, entire families, women, children, and the elderly.”
“These were not soldiers on a battlefield. They were defenseless civilians. They were murdered in a brutal and barbaric manner. It must also be noted that many of the victims have still not received proper burials,” he added.
Nawrocki further argued that glorifying the UPA calls into question Ukraine’s European aspirations.
“President Zelensky has demonstrated that Ukraine, in terms of mentality and the glorification of bandits and murderers from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, is not ready to become part of the European family,” he stated.
“In the European family, one cannot glorify bandits and murderers who killed women and children,” the Polish president added.
Nawrocki said the controversy exposed the flaws in arguments made by advocates of Ukraine’s rapid accession to the European Union.
“This is also proof that those who claimed Ukraine should join the European Union without any conditions were deeply mistaken,” he said.
At the same time, Nawrocki stressed that his position “is not directed against the Ukrainian people” and “does not alter the strategic course of Poland’s security policy.”
“Supporting Ukraine in its resistance to Russia and the bandit Vladimir Putin remains Poland’s objective,” he emphasized.
Nevertheless, the Polish president’s remarks about Ukraine’s unpreparedness for EU membership because of the glorification of the UPA amount to a direct warning that Warsaw could block Kyiv’s European integration path. As an EU member state, Poland possesses veto power over enlargement decisions, and Nawrocki’s position effectively turns the historical dispute over Volhynia into a major obstacle to Ukraine’s accession process.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has already urged Warsaw and Kyiv not to allow bilateral disputes to affect accession talks. However, the Polish side has made it clear that, in its view, progress toward EU membership will remain blocked unless Ukraine abandons the glorification of the UPA.
As the UOJ reported, Poland has repeatedly called for comprehensive exhumations of the victims of the Volhynia massacres. The issue of the UPA remains one of the most sensitive points in Polish-Ukrainian relations. Fighters of the organization are held responsible for the mass killing of Polish civilians in Volhynia between 1943 and 1945 – a tragedy that, according to various estimates, claimed up to 100,000 lives.
