Nawrocki Strips Zelensky of Poland's Highest State Honor

The Polish president has decided to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the country's highest honor after the Ukrainian president sparked outrage by renaming a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), nationalists who also massacred Poles during World War II.

Karol Nawrocki's decision is likely to spark a serious diplomatic crisis between the neighboring countries just days before a conference on Ukraine's reconstruction in the Polish city of Gdansk.

"In light of President Volodymyr Zelensky's consent to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 'Heroes of the UPA,' ... I have decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from the President of Ukraine", Nawrocki said in a statement.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on Friday that Poland's decision to revoke the award was a mistake, because it played into Moscow's hands.

The UPA was also involved in the Volhynia massacres, a series of murders between 1943 and 1945 in which, according to Poland, approximately 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists.

(Reuters, im)