Polish PiS officials return Ukrainian honors after order‑stripping dispute

Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle after Kyiv renamed a military unit “Heroes of the UPA,” a title Poland says honors the Ukrainian Insurgent Army responsible for the 1943‑45 massacres of Poles in Volhynia. In response, Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński announced he will return his Ukrainian Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Second Class, describing the act as a signal toward the Ukrainian elite and an expression of loyalty to President Nawrocki. Several other PiS politicians – Mariusz Błaszczak, Zbigniew Rau, Marek Kuchciński, Adam Bielan and Jacek Saryusz‑Wolski – also surrendered their Ukrainian decorations, citing solidarity with victims of the Volhynian massacre and opposition to what they view as historical revisionism. Ukrainian officials, including former presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko, as well as senior diplomats, returned Polish state awards in reciprocity. The dispute has drawn comments from Russian officials, who framed the episode as evidence of “Nazi‑sympathising” in Kyiv, and from Polish figures such as former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who defended Kaczyński against accusations from Lviv’s mayor. The row escalates diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv and raises questions about Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.