Poland has been a staunch supporter of Kyiv during Russia’s war in Ukraine, and former President Andrzej Duda awarded Zelensky the Order of the White Eagle in 2023.

But ​Zelensky has caused indignation in Poland by signing a decree recognising a Ukrainian special forces unit’s ​contribution to the fight against Russian forces by naming it after the Ukrainian Insurgent ⁠Army (UPA).

Some Ukrainians regard the UPA as heroes for the resistance they mounted against the Soviet Union and ​Nazi Germany, and as symbols of Kyiv’s struggle for independence from Moscow.

But the UPA was also involved in ​the Volhynia massacres, a series of killings from 1943 to 1945 in which Poland says around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists. Thousands of Ukrainians also died in reprisal killings.

“Glorifying the UPA has provided Russian propaganda with ample oxygen for ​disinformation,” Nawrocki told reporters in Warsaw on Friday.

He said supporting Ukraine against Russia was a strategic goal ​for Poland. But the Chapter of the Order of the White Eagle, an advisory council which oversees Poland’s highest and ‌oldest ⁠state decoration, will meet on June 8, he said.

“I proposed that one of the items on the agenda be the revocation of President Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle,” he said, explaining that “certain mechanisms” such as a Chapter meeting were needed before he could take a final decision.

Decision ‘wounds’ memory of victims

Nawrocki, a conservative nationalist ​inspired by US President ​Donald Trump, has tapped ⁠into weariness among some Poles with the large number of Ukrainians in the country, and promised during his election campaign to put “Poles first”.

Poland’s foreign ministry said on ​X on Friday that renaming the Ukrainian unit after the UPA “wounds the memory of ​the victims ⁠of that organisation and strikes at the dialogue between our nations.”

A spokesman for the Ukrainian presidency declined to comment on Nawrocki’s remarks.

“We’re just thankful to Poland for all the support, and we hope that our independence, and ⁠Poland’s, will ​remain strong despite all the Russian attempts to kill it,” the ​spokesperson said.

Zelensky received the Order of the White Eagle in recognition of his contributions to bilateral relations, democracy, peace and security in Europe ​and for “steadfastness in defending inalienable human rights”.