Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticized Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state award.
“We will respond in kind to every step, especially if those steps are unfriendly and show disregard for our country. The time when we ignored this has passed,” Sybiha said on the national telethon broadcast.
According to him, Nawrocki has become a “destroyer” of the positive achievements Kyiv and Warsaw had recently made in their bilateral relations. The Ukrainian foreign minister also said that, in his view, it was no coincidence that the Polish president was receiving applause from Moscow.
Sybiha said that contempt toward Ukraine’s president was not only about decorations, but also about the attitude toward Ukrainian soldiers, the Ukrainian people, and the country’s right to its own history. He stressed that Kyiv would not tolerate this.
At the same time, the minister said Ukraine had always valued its relationship with Poland and remained grateful for the assistance it had received. He called on the Polish side to act with restraint and diplomacy, adding that the two countries still had working mechanisms, positive experience of cooperation, and the political will for an honest and equal dialogue.
Tensions between Kyiv and Warsaw escalated after, in May 2026, Zelensky granted one Ukrainian military unit the honorary title of “Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army”. In Poland, the move drew sharp criticism because of the UPA fighters’ role in the Volhynia massacre of 1943–1944.
After that, Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle. Zelensky, according to the report, sent the decoration back to Poland by mail. Three former Ukrainian presidents — Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko — then also renounced the award.