Poland revokes top state honor from President Zelenskyy

Poland has revoked its highest state honor from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, escalating a diplomatic dispute rooted in World War II history. President Karol Nawrocki announced the decision on Friday, June 19, 2026, citing Zelenskyy's approval of naming a Ukrainian military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).

The controversy stems from a decree signed by Zelenskyy in late May, which granted the honorary title "Heroes of the UPA" to a unit within Ukraine's Special Operations Forces. The UPA was a nationalist partisan force that fought for Ukrainian independence against both Soviet and Nazi German forces during and after World War II. In Poland, however, the group is primarily associated with the Volhynia massacres, a series of killings from 1943 to 1945 in which Poland says approximately 100,000 Polish civilians were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. The Polish parliament has recognized these actions as genocide.

In a video statement, Nawrocki said the decision to commemorate the UPA crossed a red line and that historical truth is not a bargaining chip. He stated that the memory of the victims is a moral duty of the Polish state. Nawrocki emphasized that the...