Zelensky returns Poland’s order and may skip the Gdańsk conference

Vladimir Zelensky announced that he has returned the Order of the White Eagle — Poland’s highest state honor — one day after Polish President Karol Nawrocki declared that the Ukrainian leader had been stripped of the award.

The escalating diplomatic conflict has cast doubt on Ukraine’s participation in the Ukraine Recovery Conference scheduled for June 25–26 in Gdańsk.

The crisis erupted after Zelensky last month decided to name a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) — a paramilitary organization from World War II accused of the mass killing of tens of thousands of Poles during ethnic cleansing in Volhynia between 1943 and 1945. The move reopened one of the most painful chapters in Polish-Ukrainian relations.

On Friday, June 19, Nawrocki — a historian specializing in Nazi and Soviet crimes against Poles — officially stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, with which he had been decorated in 2023 by former President Andrzej Duda for his contribution to security, resilience, and human rights.

“I have decided to strip the President of Ukraine of the Order of the White Eagle,” Nawrocki said in an official statement.

On Saturday, Zelensky wrote on social media that he had sent the medal back to Poland. According to the Washington Post, he published photographs showing the medal being packed into a box and returned.

“Today I returned the Order to the President of Poland. I believe that the future will confirm the respect that Ukrainians deserve,” Zelensky wrote.

According to Al Jazeera, other senior Ukrainian officials also returned Polish awards they had received.

The diplomatic rupture has cast doubt on Ukraine’s participation in the upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, which Poland and Ukraine are co-organizing. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that on June 22 Zelensky would receive a briefing on the conference and would then decide whether to attend.

“The President will make a decision on participation following this briefing,” Sybiha said.

The dispute has arisen at a time when Ukraine still relies heavily on Poland’s support in its war with Russia, and the deterioration of diplomatic relations between Kyiv and Warsaw is causing serious concern for both countries and their Western allies.