On Friday, President Karol Nawrocki announced that he was stripping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor, after Zelenskyy decided to name a Ukrainian military unit after the “Heroes of UPA,” a reference that is seen in Ukraine as honoring anti-Soviet resistance but in Poland is linked to massacres of tens of thousands of Poles in the 1940s. “The political conflict between Poland and Ukraine is a strategic mistake that will cost both sides: business-wise, geopolitically and reputationally,” Tusk wrote on social media on Sunday, adding: “And in politics, as we know, a mistake is worse than a crime.” He said he has been telling his European counterparts that he is trying to “minimize losses and reduce tensions” and that “this is not an easy task.” Rare revocation Zelenskyy was awarded the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 by then-president Andrzej Duda. On Saturday, he posted photos showing that the insignia had been sent back to Nawrocki. “We believed that the Order of the White Eagle, awarded in 2023, was meant for the Ukrainian People and our army. That is what was said at the time,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. In protest over Nawrocki’s decision, three former Ukrainian presidents – Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko – and several senior officials, including Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy Ihor Zhovkva, ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar and former prime minister Volodymyr Groysman, have said they will return or renounce their Polish state decorations. The Order of the White Eagle, founded in 1705 and Poland's highest distinction, has over the centuries been awarded to monarchs, political leaders and public figures. Polish media note that formal revocations are exceptionally rare and typically point to only one earlier case: Wincenty Witos, a three-time prime minister, who was stripped of the order in 1932 following a politically motivated court ruling and had it formally restored in 1939 by Poland’s government-in-exile. Critics of Nawrocki's move, including Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, have argued that some controversial recipients of the order have never been stripped of it and warn that the current conflict benefits Moscow and alarms Poland’s allies. Zelenskyy said Ukraine remained grateful for Polish support and that Kyiv is open to dialogue with Warsaw about the difficult and painful chapters of their shared history.
