Ukrainian officials hand back Polish WW2 medal in protest over Zelenskyy snub

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The move by Kyrylo Budanov threatens to deepen a diplomatic rift between the close strategic partners as Kyiv rallies allies to push Russia to end its war on Ukraine.

Vasyl Bodnar, Kyiv’s envoy in Warsaw, has also handed back the Order of Merit.

President Nawrocki said on Friday he was revoking the Order of the White Eagle from Volodymyr Zelenskyy after he renamed a military unit in honour of World War Two-era Ukrainian insurgents blamed for massacring Poles.

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Mr Budanov said he was renouncing the Golden Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, awarded to him last year, to protest against a move he described as "a gift" for Russia.

"Our nations have long-standing relations and different pages of history - both heroic and tragic," he posted on social media. "However, this should be an occasion for deep reflection, not crude political speculation."

Mr Bodnar called Nawrocki’s decision “historically unjust,” saying it was seen in Ukraine as a painful gesture toward the entire nation at a time when the country was under Russian missile and drone attacks.

President Nawrocki's decision looked likely to unleash a severe diplomatic crisis between the neighbours just days ahead of a conference on Ukraine's reconstruction in the Polish city of Gdansk.

"At this point, I would like to emphasise: this decision is not directed against the Ukrainian people. It does not signify a change in the strategic direction of Polish security policy, Mr Nawrocki said in a statement.

While Warsaw is a strong supporter of Kyiv's war effort, public sentiment towards Ukraine has become more and more negative in recent years due to weariness with refugees, disputes over grain imports and the legacy of the World War Two massacres.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the decision a "strategic error".

"We regret that instead of looking for solutions, the Polish side decided to escalate this conflict to an unacceptable and inappropriate level," he wrote on Facebook.

"No president of another country is going to dictate our history to us."

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a political opponent of Nawrocki who had sought to defuse the dispute, called for both presidents to cool emotions late on Friday.

"The conflict between Poland and Ukraine delights Putin and shocks our allies. The task of Presidents Zelenskyy and Nawrocki is to calm emotions, not to stoke tensions. The front line runs elsewhere," he wrote in a post on X.

Former president Andrzej Duda awarded Zelenskyy the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 in recognition of his contributions to bilateral relations, democracy, peace and security in Europe and for "steadfastness in defending inalienable human rights".

But Mr Nawrocki said in May that an advisory council should consider stripping Zelenskyy of the honour after he signed a decree recognising a Ukrainian special forces unit's contribution to the fight against Russian forces by naming it after the UPA.

The decision caused outrage across the political spectrum in Poland. Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa said he would no longer wear a badge with the Ukrainian flag and while he still supported the nation in its fight against Russia he would not support Zelenskyy.

Some Ukrainians regard the UPA as heroes for the resistance they mounted against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and as symbols of Kyiv's struggle for independence from Moscow.

But the UPA was also involved in the Volhynia massacres, a series of killings from 1943 to 1945 in which Poland says around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. Thousands of Ukrainians also died in reprisal killings.

Kyiv had previously said that the name had been chosen by soldiers who wanted to commemorate the UPA's fight against Moscow and who had no intention of offending Poland.