Zelensky Returns Poland's Highest State Honor Amid Historical Dispute Over WWII-Era Massacre Perpetrators

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has returned Poland's highest state honor, the Order of the White Eagle, to Polish President Karol Nawrocki, deepening a diplomatic rift between the two wartime allies. The Ukrainian side sent back the decoration — awarded to Zelensky in 2023 — on Saturday in response to Polish objections over Ukraine's recent glorification of fighters from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, known by its Ukrainian acronym UPA. The dispute was triggered after members of the UPA were declared heroes by Ukrainian authorities in May, a move Poland firmly rejected due to the group's historical role in the massacre of tens of thousands of Polish civilians during World War II. The UPA, a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary force active primarily in the 1940s, is credited by some Ukrainians as a symbol of resistance against Soviet and Nazi occupation, but is regarded in Poland as responsible for ethnic cleansing of Poles in the Volhynia region — one of the most sensitive historical grievances between the two nations. The return of the decoration marks a significant cooling in relations between Poland and Ukraine, two countries that have otherwise maintained close ties since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Poland serving as one of Kyiv's most important political and logistical supporters.