Polish FM criticizes Nawrocki's decision to strip Zelensky of top honor
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Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on June 26 that President Karol Nawrocki's decision to strip President Volodymyr Zelensky of Poland's Order of the White Eagle was an inappropriate response to the recent diplomatic dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with TVN24, Sikorski said Poland's reaction "was inappropriate, because it humiliated the president of Ukraine personally."
He added that if Nawrocki had consulted him, he would have recommended a different response, such as renaming Jasionka Airport after victims of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
Sikorski also argued that Zelensky should have taken Poland's historical sensitivities into account when approving the name of a Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit honoring the Heroes of the UPA.
"He should have thought: all right, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought against Soviet rule, but it also killed Poles," Sikorski said, suggesting that Ukraine could instead have honored "a specific hero who fought against Soviet occupation."
Nawrocki revoked Zelensky's Order of the White Eagle on June 19 after public backlash over the military unit's new name.
The UPA, which fought for Ukraine's independence during World War II, is primarily remembered in Poland for the Volyn massacres, in which tens of thousands of Polish civilians were killed.
The decision sparked a diplomatic dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw, with several senior Ukrainian officials returning Polish state honors in protest.
Sikorski argued that Nawrocki's decision deprived him of "the opportunity to conduct dialogue with the president of an important country that is waging a war."
Zelensky was presented with the award, Poland's highest state honor, in 2023 by then-President Andrzej Duda.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk cautioned against further escalation, calling the continued involvement of Polish and Ukrainian politicians in the controversy a "strategic mistake" that would harm both countries.
