Kuchma and Yushchenko renounce Order of the White Eagle following Zelensky

Two former presidents of Ukraine — Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko — have renounced Poland’s Order of the White Eagle after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped the award from incumbent president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Leonid Kuchma, who received the order from Poland in 1997, was the first to announce his decision. The announcement was made by his press secretary Darka Olifer.

“Today I have no other choice but to renounce this high Polish order. Ukraine did not take up the fight against Russia — which justified its invasion with historical grievances — only for other countries to dictate our history to us today and determine whom we should respect,” she quoted Kuchma as saying.

Viktor Yushchenko followed Kuchma in renouncing the order. His press secretary Iryna Vannikova conveyed the former president’s statement.

“Any attempts to revisit this decision today go beyond an attitude toward a single politician. They inevitably affect the millions of Ukrainians who defend their country at the front every day, work toward victory on the home front, and lose their most beloved in this war.”

Zelensky himself returned his Order of the White Eagle to Nawrocki the same day. Commenting on the decision, the Ukrainian president said:

“If it is considered that this special symbol can remain with Catherine the Second, Benito Mussolini, and Gerhard Schröder, then we in Ukraine will not argue with that.”

Earlier, the head of the Office of the President, Budanov, also renounced the Polish award.