Polish Senate deputy speaker returns Ukrainian state awards amid deepening rift

Michal Kaminski, the deputy speaker of the Polish Senate, said he is returning two Ukrainian state awards due to the deepening dispute about wartime historical grievances, the Polish outlet 300Polityka reported on June 22, citing a letter it had obtained.

In a letter to Ukraine's Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar, Kaminski linked his decision to "the actions and statements of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, which were supported by all former presidents of Ukraine and the vast majority of the Ukrainian political class."

The latest scandal broke out after Zelensky named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a World War II-era organization that fought for Ukraine's independence but is remembered in Poland mainly due to its role in the Volyn massacres.

The decision sparked a broad condemnation in Poland, with Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripping Zelensky of the Order of White Eagle, the country's highest state award.

Several Ukrainian former and current officials, including former presidents, returned their Polish state awards in response.

Kaminski, a member of the liberal-conservative Union of European Democrats party, said he is returning his two Ukrainian awards, conferred on him for his role in Ukraine's EU accession efforts, in light of Ukraine's views on historical issues.

"I accepted these decorations as an expression of shared values ​​that were intended to underpin relations between Poland and Ukraine," the lawmaker said.

"Today, I cannot retain them, as Ukraine's highest authorities and a significant portion of its political elite have still not brought themselves to unequivocally condemn the perpetrators of the Volyn massacres and the mass murders of Polish citizens."

The latest dispute marks one of the most serious crises between the two neighbors in years, stemming from diverging perspectives on the UPA.

While Ukraine underscores the UPA's legacy of resisting Moscow's rule, in Poland, the group is remembered chiefly as the perpetrator of the 1943-1945 Volyn massacres, mass killings of Poles in what is today western Ukraine, then under Nazi occupation.

Thousands of Ukrainians were killed in retaliatory attacks, with the Volyn massacres remaining one of the most painful chapters in the Polish-Ukrainian history.

The dispute is taking place a year before the Polish parliamentary elections, where Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist government is set to face a challenge from conservative and far-right parties.