Tusk Criticizes Nawrocki Over Zelensky Award Dispute

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has accused President Karol Nawrocki of making a strategic mistake after he stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle.

Nawrocki acted in protest against Ukraine’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The World War II-era formation is viewed in Ukraine as a symbol of the struggle for independence, but in Poland it is associated with the massacres of tens of thousands of Poles between 1943 and 1945. Warsaw describes the killings as genocide, a characterization Kyiv rejects.

Tusk warned that escalating the dispute between Polish and Ukrainian politicians would harm both sides commercially, geopolitically and reputationally. “And in politics, as we know, a mistake is worse than a crime”, he wrote.

The tension comes shortly before the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which will take place on June 26 and 27 in Gdansk. The Polish government sees the conference as an opportunity to strengthen economic cooperation with Kyiv and support the involvement of Polish companies in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.

(politico, bak)