The Order of the White Eagle, which Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Poland, will be kept in a special vault for life and will never be awarded to anyone again.
This was stated by the spokesman of the President of Poland Rafal Leskiewicz, Polsat reports.
"It goes to a repository, where it will be stored with dignity and respect, because this is the highest and most important Polish state award. It will not be awarded to anyone again. The certificate loses its validity, so the order, together with the certificate, goes to the repository of the Office of the President," the spokesman for the head of state explained.
Leskevych says that the Ukrainian side tried to contact Karol Nawrockiʼs office, but the telephone conversation between the presidents never took place — Zelensky allegedly refused it.
"The Ukrainian side did indeed try to establish contact with the Office of the President twice. First, there was an attempt to organize a telephone conversation. This was the initiative of the Ukrainian side. In the end, this telephone conversation did not take place because President Zelensky did not want to talk to President Karol Nawrocki," Leskevych explained.
At the same time, he assures that the decision to strip Zelensky of the order is not directed against Ukrainians, and Russia remains an enemy of Ukraine and all of free Europe. At the same time, Warsaw believes that it was Zelensky who caused the crisis, because he "became a hostage to this political situation".
Why Zelensky was stripped of Polandʼs highest state award
On May 26, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree awarding the Separate Special Operations Center "North" of the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary title "named after the Heroes of UPA".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha explained Zelenskyʼs decree as follows: Ukrainians did not want to offend Poles and chose the name for the SOF unit to remember those who fought against imperial Moscow many years ago.
However, this decision of the Ukrainian president caused outrage among Poles. And on June 19, the current president Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Polandʼs highest state award, which he had been awarded by former Polish president Andrzej Duda. Zelensky latersent his order to Poland via “Nova Post”.
Three presidents of Ukraine — Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko — also refused their orders of the White Eagle. Also, the head of the Foreign Ministry Andriy Sybiha and the head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov refused their awards — the Commanderʼs Cross with the Star of the Order "For Merit to Poland" and the Golden Officerʼs Cross of the Order "For Merit to Poland".
Former Polish Sejm member Piotr Vogler also refused the Golden Cross of Merit. He called President Nawrockiʼs actions a "nightmare".
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