Former Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Bartosz Cichocki said he has returned a Ukrainian state decoration awarded to him by President Volodymyr Zelensky, citing Kyiv’s recent decisions related to honoring the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
According to Polish broadcaster RMF FM, Cichocki announced the decision in a statement sent to media outlets on Monday, June 1.
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“In connection with decisions by the President of Ukraine honoring the UPA and a collaborator of German Nazis, I have returned the decoration awarded to me,” Cichocki said.
The former diplomat served as Poland’s ambassador to Ukraine from 2019 to 2023. In June 2022, Zelensky awarded him the Order of Merit, Second Class, in recognition of his role in strengthening bilateral relations during the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Cichocki said he would continue supporting Ukrainians fighting against Russian aggression, historical falsehoods, and corruption despite returning the award.
The decision follows Zelensky’s May 27 decree granting the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA” to the Separate Special Operations Center “North,” an elite unit of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Zelensky said the designation was intended to restore “historical traditions of the national military” and recognize the unit’s role in defending Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity.
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Growing backlash in Poland
The move has triggered criticism across Poland’s political spectrum.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the decision was “concerning from the perspective of our relations” and touched on sensitive historical issues between the two countries.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki went further, arguing that glorifying the UPA undermines Ukraine’s European aspirations. Last week, he said he would ask the chapter of Poland’s highest state distinction, the Order of the White Eagle, to consider revoking the award granted to Zelensky in 2023.
The controversy reflects longstanding disagreements over the legacy of the UPA, which fought for an independent Ukrainian state during and after World War II.
In Ukraine, many view the organization as part of the broader struggle against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In Poland, however, the UPA is primarily associated with the killings of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in Volhynia and parts of Eastern Galicia in 1943-44. Poland officially classifies those events as genocide, while many Ukrainian historians describe the violence as part of a broader wartime conflict involving atrocities committed by both Ukrainian and Polish armed groups.
The latest dispute follows Nawrocki’s proposal to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle and comments from senior presidential aide Marcin Przydacz, who said on Monday that Zelensky should personally apologize to the Polish president over the UPA designation.
Przydacz argued that the Ukrainian leader should explain the decision directly and said Warsaw must respond firmly to actions that many Poles view as insensitive to the memory of victims of wartime violence.
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