Poland moves to strip Zelenskyy of White Eagle

A major diplomatic crisis has erupted between Poland and Ukraine following a Ukrainian presidential decree that renamed a special forces unit after a World War II-era nationalist group, threatening to undermine a crucial wartime alliance. The dispute centers on radically different interpretations of history and has prompted Poland's president to initiate a process to revoke Ukraine's leader from receiving the country's highest state honor.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued the decree on May 26, bestowing the honorary name "Heroes of the UPA" on an elite military unit. Ukrainian officials stated the move was intended to restore historical traditions of national defense and was a grassroots request from soldiers, symbolizing resistance to Moscow. The Foreign Ministry emphasized the name carried no anti-Polish intent and was solely about opposing Russian imperialism.

In Poland, the reaction was swift and severe. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is held responsible for the Volhynia massacres, a campaign from 1943 to 1945 that Polish historians say resulted in the deaths of approximately 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians, an event Warsaw characterizes as genocide....