Zelensky’s team responded to Nawrocký’s statement on Friday, in which the Polish head of state announced that he would withdraw the aforementioned award from his Ukrainian counterpart. Nawrocki justified his decision with the recent decree by which Zelenskyy awarded the 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.
This caused outrage in Poland, because nationalists from the UPA participated in the massacres of Poles during the Second World War.
“We believed that the Order of the White Eagle, which was awarded to me in 2023, was intended for the Ukrainian people and our army. That’s how it was said then. Today I sent this award back to the Polish president,” Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook.
Photo: Facebook Volodymyr Zelenskyj
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According to him, the future will confirm that Ukrainians deserve respect. In this context, Zelensky also stated that if former Russian Empress Catherine II, former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini or former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder are still holders of the Polish Order of the White Eagle, “we will not argue with that in Ukraine.”
“Ukraine will remain open to all meaningful forms of cooperation with Poland in order to avoid conflicting interpretations of difficult and painful chapters of our common past and to ensure due respect for all innocent victims of the 20th century,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Yushchenko, Poroshenko and Kuchma joined
The Order of the White Eagle is Poland’s highest state award. It was founded in 1705 by the Polish king and Saxon elector August II. Strong. The award is given for extraordinary services to Poland or its position on the international scene.
In Kiev, according to the daily Ukrainska pravda, meanwhile, the circle of representatives who decided to return Polish state honors has further expanded. After Foreign Minister Andriy Sybih and the head of Zelensky’s office Kyrylo Budanov, the former presidents of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, Petro Poroshenko and Leonid Kuchma also decided to take the same step.
