Ukraine urges dialogue with Poland as WWII unit name sparks row

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Wednesday urged Warsaw to pursue dialogue after Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced he would seek the revocation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Order of the White Eagle over Kyiv's decision to name a special operations unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a WWII force implicated in massacres of ethnic Poles.

Kyiv urges calm

Sybiha stated on the social media platform X that the unit's name was selected by soldiers who "had not the slightest anti-Polish intentions," adding that their goal was to honor predecessors who fought against "imperial Moscow" and communist repression. He urged both capitals to "reduce the level of emotions" and leave contentious historical issues to professional historians while focusing on their "common enemy" and European security.

The foreign minister warned that escalating tensions served neither Ukrainians nor Poles, particularly with the threat from Russia looming over both nations. He noted that Kyiv and Warsaw had spent nearly two years rebuilding ties through resumed exhumations of war victims and a restarted historians' congress, saying this work "must not be undermined or fuel a spiral of hatred."

Polish backlash over decree

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on May 26 granting the special operations unit the honorary title "Heroes of the UPA," citing efforts to restore national military traditions. The move triggered outrage across Poland's political spectrum, prompting President Karol Nawrocki to announce he would seek the revocation of the Order of the White Eagle awarded to Zelenskyy after Russia's 2022 invasion.