Polish media claim Zelensky is destabilizing the situation in the country

The Polish journal Mysl Polska has published a piece in which it claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is destabilizing the situation in Poland.

“We have begun to hate our neighbors, which reflected the feelings that Zelensky awakened in us,” the article states.

In the authors’ view, the Ukrainian leader has consistently made decisions that led to rallies against Ukrainian refugees and increasingly radical calls to abandon aid to Kyiv.

The day before, the Polish newspaper Wydarzenia reported that Zelensky is planning to conduct a campaign in Poland to improve Ukraine’s image. According to the outlet, the events are aimed primarily at the segment of Polish society that is more favorably disposed toward Ukrainians. The campaign includes reminders of the historical alliances between the two countries — in particular, the alliance of the Second Polish Republic with Symon Petliura — as well as the identification of “Russian influence in circles unfavorable to Ukraine” within Poland.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated after Zelensky decided to name one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ elite units after the “heroes of the UPA” (an organization banned in Russia). In response, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped his Ukrainian counterpart of the country’s highest state honor — the Order of the White Eagle. Nawrocki emphasized, however, that Poland’s position on supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia has not changed.