Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Friday said  he will strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor over the Ukraine leader’s decision to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during World War II.

Zelenskyy was awarded the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 by Poland’s then President Andrzej Duda for his services to security, resilience and the defence of human rights.

But it will now be revoked after Zelenskyy issued a decree on May 26 naming a military unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the UPA — the Ukrainian Insurgent Army — which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and which is accused in Poland of mass killings.

Head Of The Office Of The President Of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov in a post on X opined that the recent development will be to the benefit of Russia and that Putin will use it against Zelenskyy as both nation war on.

In his words: “Undoubtedly, this is a gift to the Moscow aggressor, who will certainly use it against both of our countries.

“am convinced that this gesture by the President of Poland is not about justice or anything of the sort.

“For what kind of justice can we speak of if, for example, the Order of the White Eagle has still not been stripped from Italian fascist dictator and Hitler collaborator Benito Mussolini?” he queried