Conflict between Polish and Ukrainian presidents a “strategic mistake”, warns Tusk

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that the dispute between Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, is a “strategic mistake”.

After Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of Poland’s highest honour, Tusk said that he is now trying to “minimise the losses” caused by the diplomatic spat.

Nawrocki announced on Friday that he was stripping Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, which had been awarded to him in 2023 by former Polish President Andrzej Duda.

The decision came in response to Zelensky last month naming a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a partisan formation that fought for Ukrainian independence but was also responsible for the massacre of up to 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians during World War Two.

Nawrocki called Zelensky’s decision “outrageous”, “incomprehensible and deeply disappointing”, adding that it “undermines the trust built up over the years and…strikes at the very foundation of reconciliation”.

On Saturday, Zelensky responded by posting images on social media showing him sending his Order of the White Eagle back to Nawrocki by post.

He pointedly noted that Poland had not withdrawn the same honour from other previous recipients, such as Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, Russian Empress Catherine the Great, and Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor and Putin ally.

“Ukraine will remain open to all meaningful formats of engagement with Poland in order to try to avoid conflicting interpretations of the difficult and painful chapters of our shared past and to ensure proper respect for all innocent victims of the 20th century,” wrote Zelensky.

From the beginning of the crisis, Poland’s centrist government, which is bitterly opposed to Nawrocki domestically, has appealed for calm and sought to find a diplomatic solution. It has warned that Russia will be the only beneficiary of a dispute with Ukraine.

On Sunday, Tusk wrote on social media that “wading into a conflict by politicians in Poland and Ukraine is a strategic mistake that will cost both sides: in business, geopolitically, and reputationally”.

“In conversations with my European partners, I am trying to minimise the losses and reduce the tension,” he added. “It is not an easy task.”

Meanwhile, Nawrocki’s action has prompted an angry response in Ukraine. Three former Ukrainian presidents, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko, have all returned their own Orders of the White Eagle in a show of solidarity with Zelensky.

A number of serving officials, including foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, the head of Zelensky’s office, Kyrylo Budanov, and Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, have likewise renounced honours they previously received from Poland.

However, on Saturday, Sybiha also wrote on social media that he “wishes to thank every Pole who has clearly expressed their stance against escalating tensions with Ukraine”.

“We are staunch supporters of the same approach,” he added. “We are wise nations, always able to find a way out of a difficult situation. We are bound by a difficult history, a shared future, and the threat from our age-old enemy – Moscow.”

There remains uncertainty as to whether Zelensky will visit Poland as planned this week for the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC), a major international event being hosted in the Polish city of Gdańsk.

On Sunday, Sybiha announced that the foreign ministry would “on Monday submit a report to the president regarding preparations for the conference, the impact of individual decisions, and the format for its implementation”, reports news website Interia.

“Based on this information, the president will make a decision [on whether to attend],” he added.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: KPRM/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.