Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “He is stoking antagonism and hatred toward Ukrainians. This is exactly what Orbán has been doing. It’s a bad path, and in my opinion, it will end badly,” the Ukrainian president said.

“The dispute centers on the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration, which was awarded to Zelenskyy by then-President Andrzej Duda in 2023 for strengthening Polish-Ukrainian relations and cooperation during the war.

Following President Volodymyr  Zelenskyy granting a Ukrainian military unit a name associated with the UPA, President Nawrocki demanded that the award be returned.

In response, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to send the order back, while stressing that it had been awarded not to him personally, but to the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian armed forces.

According to Zelenskyy, the conflict is primarily driven by domestic Polish politics. He believes Nawrocki has already begun a political campaign aimed at securing power for his party and defeating Donald Tusk.

“We have nothing to do with this. It is their internal political struggle,” Zelenskyy said.

Warsaw explains why Zelensky lost the Order of the White Eagle — while Mussolini, Catherine the Great, and Schröder kept theirs

Agnieszka Jędrzak, an adviser to President Karol Nawrocki, said Poland’s highest state honor is awarded to people who not only have exceptional merits, but also respect the values of the Polish state.

According to her, the decision to revoke the award was not about Poland’s attitude toward Ukraine, but about Zelensky’s own actions. Warsaw considers it an insult that a Ukrainian military unit was given a name associated with the UPA.

💬 “You do not honor the murderers of the ancestors of those who helped you when it was a matter of life and death. When someone extends a helping hand, you do not insult the person who helped you,” Jędrzak said.

She also dismissed Zelensky’s comparisons with Benito Mussolini, Catherine the Great and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The first two have long been dead, and Poland does not revoke state honors posthumously. As for Schröder, despite his cooperation with the Kremlin, he “never glorified people responsible for the mass murder of Poles.”

Nawrocki’s office stressed that Poland continues to support Ukraine, but will not accept actions it sees as disrespectful to the memory of the victims of the Volhynia massacres.

💬 “President Nawrocki withdrew the Order, not the helping hand. We support Ukraine, but we will not allow ourselves to be insulted,” Jędrzak said.