The head of the Presidentʼs Office (OP) Kyrylo Budanov refused the Golden Officerʼs Cross of the Order "For Merit to Poland".
He stated this himself in a telegram.
Budanov said that last year he was awarded the award by Polish President Karol Nawrocki, but this time the Pole "committed an unfriendly act towards our people".
This was a reaction to Warsawʼs decision to strip President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle. All because on May 26, Zelensky signed a decree awarding the Separate Special Operations Center "North" of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary title "named after the Heroes of UPA".
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha also refused the Commanderʼs Cross with the Star of the Order of Merit to Poland. Sybiha will return the award, which he received in 2022, back to Poland.
Polesʼ reactions to Zelenskyʼs decree
Former Polish President Lech Walesa said that because of this decree, he would stop wearing the badge with the Ukrainian flag, which he had had since the beginning of the full-scale war, and current President Karol Nawrocki proposed to deprive Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Polandʼs highest state award.
For the same reason, the Ukrainian flag, which had been hanging there since 2022 along with the flags of Poland and the EU, was removed from the town hall in Lublin, Poland.
And the Vice Speaker of the Polish Sejm Krzysztof Bosak called for blocking Ukraineʼs movement towards the EU until Kyiv "departs from the cult of criminals and unblocks all exhumations" of the victims of the Volyn tragedy.
Amid the scandal, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on the presidents of Ukraine and Poland to have a "direct and frank conversation" because, he said, "diplomacy has not yielded any results" to resolve the conflict between the countries. Tusk was referring to the meetings of the Ukrainian delegation with Polish officials.
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