Without Ukraine, no one will be able to defend Poland
In the shadow of an unhealed wound from the 1940s, Ukraine and Poland find themselves estranged at the very moment their solidarity matters most. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's absence from the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk this week is not merely a diplomatic snub — it is the visible shape of a rupture between two nations bound by geography, war, and now, the competing claims of historical memory. The naming of a Ukrainian military unit after the UPA, a formation held responsible for massacring tens of thousands of Poles, has reopened a grief that no postwar architecture ever fully closed. What began as an act of national pride in Kyiv has become, in Warsaw, a test of whether the future can be built while the past remains unburied.
- Zelenskyy's decision to skip Gdańsk and send his prime minister instead transforms a diplomatic tension into a public rupture, leaving his chair visibly empty at a conference designed to secure Ukraine's future.
- Poland's president revoked his country's highest civilian honor from Zelenskyy, and Zelenskyy returned it by post — a symbolic exchange that signals both sides have moved beyond quiet diplomacy into open confrontation.
- Three former Ukrainian presidents and several senior officials returned their own Polish honors in solidarity, widening the breach from a bilateral spat into a statement of national identity.
- Poland's Prime Minister Tusk, caught between his role as host and his warnings against escalation, acknowledged anti-Ukrainian sentiment at home while urging both sides to step back from a 'strategic mistake.'
- The EU issued a stark warning: the only beneficiary of a fracturing Ukraine-Poland alliance is Russia, and the dispute now threatens the logistics corridor and political solidarity that have sustained Ukraine's war effort since 2022.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not be in Gdańsk this week. Rather than co-hosting the Ukraine Recovery Conference, he has sent Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in his place — a public acknowledgment of a rupture so deep that the two presidents cannot share a table, even to discuss rebuilding a nation both claim to support.
The fracture opened when Zelenskyy named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the UPA. In Ukraine, it was an act of historical honor — recognizing fighters who resisted Soviet occupation. In Poland, it reopened a wound that has never healed: the UPA killed as many as 100,000 Poles in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1945, atrocities Poland's parliament formally recognized as genocide in 2016.
Poland's President Karol Nawrocki responded by revoking the Order of the White Eagle he had awarded Zelenskyy in 2023. Zelenskyy returned the medal by post, accused Nawrocki of exploiting anti-Ukrainian sentiment ahead of parliamentary elections, and warned that the dispute was undermining the very alliance needed to defend Poland itself. In a rare show of unity, three of his predecessors returned their own Polish honors as well.
The timing is punishing. The conference opens in Gdańsk — home city of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has urged both leaders to step back from what he called a 'strategic mistake that will cost both sides.' Poland has been Ukraine's closest ally since 2022, hosting over a million refugees and serving as the critical corridor for weapons and aid flowing to the front.
The European Union watched with alarm, warning that only Russia benefits from a widening breach. Zelenskyy's empty chair in Gdańsk is a stark reminder of how swiftly alliance can fracture when the past refuses to stay buried.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not be in Gdańsk this week. Instead of co-hosting the Ukraine Recovery Conference—the annual gathering meant to marshal international support and investment for rebuilding his country after war—he has sent his prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, in his place. The decision is a public acknowledgment of something that has been festering for weeks: a rupture between Ukraine and Poland so deep that the president of one cannot sit across a table from the president of the other, not even to discuss the future of a nation both claim to defend.
The fracture opened last month when Zelenskyy named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the UPA. In Ukraine, the move was straightforward—honoring fighters who resisted Soviet occupation and fought for independence. In Poland, it landed like a slap. The UPA, Polish historians and officials say, killed as many as 100,000 Poles in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1945, massacring civilians in an attempt to ensure that territory would not become part of postwar Poland. Poland's parliament formally recognized these killings as genocide in 2016. The wound has never healed.
Poland's President Karol Nawrocki, a former director of the country's Institute of National Remembrance, responded with fury. He announced he would revoke the Order of the White Eagle—Poland's highest civilian honor, which he had bestowed on Zelenskyy in 2023. "If anyone wants to be proud of the murderers of women and children, they cannot be surprised by the reaction," said Marcin Przydacz, Nawrocki's chief foreign policy adviser. A Polish poll showed the majority of the country supported the move. For weeks, officials from both capitals held frantic talks trying to find middle ground. None emerged.
Zelenskyy responded by returning the medal by post. He accused Nawrocki of exploiting anti-Ukrainian sentiment ahead of Poland's parliamentary elections next year, drawing a parallel to Viktor Orbán's Hungary. He also issued a warning: the dispute was weakening the very alliance that would be needed to defend Poland itself. "Without Ukraine, no one will be able to defend Poland. It is simply impossible," he said. In a rare show of unity across Ukraine's political spectrum, his three predecessors—Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko—sent their Polish honors back as well. Several senior Ukrainian officials did the same.
The timing could hardly be worse. The conference begins Thursday in Gdańsk, the home city of Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has positioned himself as a bridge between the two nations and repeatedly urged both presidents to step back from the brink. Tusk warned that escalation would be "a strategic mistake that will cost both sides." He acknowledged the anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland—some of it, he said, "justified"—but accused politicians on both sides of stoking tensions rather than building the solidarity that both countries need. Poland has been Ukraine's closest ally since the 2022 invasion, hosting more than a million Ukrainian refugees and serving as the critical logistics corridor through which weapons and aid flow to the front.
The European Union watched the standoff with alarm. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will attend the conference, but Brussels made clear that only one party benefits from a widening breach between Ukraine and Poland: Russia. "There's only one happy observer in this type of situation, and that's the aggressor in Ukraine," an EU spokesperson said. The dispute, in other words, is not merely a bilateral disagreement over history. It is a strategic vulnerability at a moment when both countries need each other most. Zelenskyy's empty chair in Gdańsk is a visible reminder of how quickly alliance can fracture when the past refuses to stay buried.
Notable Quotes
If anyone wants to be proud of the murderers of women and children, they cannot be surprised by the reaction— Marcin Przydacz, Polish President Nawrocki's chief foreign policy adviser
Without Ukraine, no one will be able to defend Poland. It is simply impossible— President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did Zelenskyy name the unit after the UPA in the first place? Did he not know what Poland would say?
He knew. The UPA is genuinely heroic in Ukrainian memory—they fought the Soviets when no one else could. But naming a military unit after them was a choice to prioritize that narrative over the relationship with Poland. It was a statement.
And Poland's response—revoking the medal—that seems like it escalated things rather than de-escalating.
It did. But Nawrocki felt he had no choice. In Poland, the UPA massacres are not abstract history. They're family memory. Families still don't know where their relatives are buried. When Zelenskyy honored the UPA, it felt like he was saying those deaths didn't matter.
So why skip the conference? Wouldn't showing up and talking be better?
Probably. But by that point, the damage was done. Zelenskyy returning the medal was his way of saying: I won't back down. Skipping the conference is the same message. It's a cost he's willing to pay.
What's the actual cost here? Poland is hosting the reconstruction conference. Ukraine needs that investment.
Exactly. That's what makes this so dangerous. Poland has been Ukraine's closest ally—hosting refugees, moving weapons, everything. This dispute doesn't just hurt feelings. It fractures the logistics and political support Ukraine depends on to survive.
Can this be fixed?
Not quickly. Both sides have dug in. Zelenskyy says his soldiers chose the name and he supports them. Nawrocki says you can't honor people who murdered civilians. Those positions don't have an obvious middle ground. The best either side can hope for is that the war ends before the rift becomes permanent.