Zelenskyj recently caused outrage in Poland when he signed a decree awarding a Ukrainian special forces unit with the epithet of the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) for its achievements in the current war against Russia. Polish representatives vainly asked Kyiv to change its decision.
This controversial army fought against the Nazis and the Soviet army during the Second World War. He is responsible for the brutal expulsion and murder of Poles, Jews and Volyn Czechs in the west of Ukraine.
“The victims of our ancestors cannot be betrayed by silence. They are graves that we must not forget. They are historical wounds that require truth, remembrance and respect. We Poles worship our ancestors, we do not abandon them and we always stand up for them,” Nawrocki said of his decision, according to Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.
“Respect for our ancestors and honesty towards history is the duty of all of us. A nation that loses its memory loses a part of its soul. A state that stops defending the truth about its history stops being the guardian of national respect. Historical truth is not and can never be a negotiating argument,” added the Polish president.
Zelenskyj received the award in 2023 from the then head of the Polish state Andrzej Duda. The Polish media previously reported that the removal of the highest Polish order also requires the approval of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has been one of the biggest supporters of Kyiv. However, mutual relations are burdened by some historical events, especially the so-called Volhynia massacre from 1943 to 1944, when Ukrainian nationalists, according to historians’ estimates, killed 50,000 to 100,000 Poles, including women and children.
To a lesser extent, local Russians, Jews, Armenians and Czechs also became victims in Volhynia in the west of Ukraine. Ukrainian historians, on the other hand, recall the massacres of civilians during retaliatory actions of the Polish Land Army against Ukrainian villages, during which, according to estimates, up to 20,000 Ukrainians died.
It is a strategic mistake, responded Kyiv
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called Nawrocky’s decision a “strategic mistake” and “disrespect”. He announced that he himself will return to Poland the state award he received in October 2022 – the Commander’s Cross with a star of the Order of Merit for Poland. “I will do so soon,” assured Sybiha, according to the daily Ukrainska Pravda.
“We are sorry that instead of finding a solution, the Polish side decided to escalate the situation to an unacceptable level. No president of another country will dictate our history to us,” Sybiha stressed.
