Polish FM criticises move to strip Zelenskyy of state honour

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has criticised the decision to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland's highest state honour, saying such a move was unnecessarily insulting.

Speaking to Polish broadcaster TVN, Sikorski said he would not have returned the Order of the White Eagle, which Zelenskyy received in 2023 from then-President Andrzej Duda.

The dispute follows Zelenskyy's decision to grant a Ukrainian military unit the honorary title "Heroes of the UPA", a reference to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a group linked in Poland to wartime massacres of Polish civilians.

Sikorski described the response by President Karol Nawrocki as disproportionate and suggested alternative ways of expressing disagreement over the issue. He said, for example, that a facility such as the airport in Jasionka could have been named in memory of victims of the UPA.

"In European tradition, honours are taken away for crimes," Sikorski said, arguing that the disagreement concerned historical interpretation rather than criminal conduct.

Nawrocki announced the decision on June 19, saying the UPA remains associated with crimes against Poles during World War Two. He added that Poland would continue to support Ukraine despite the dispute.

Several Ukrainian politicians have since said they would give up Polish state honours in response.

By Aghakazim Guliyev