In Poland, 36.4% of citizens believe that President Karol Nawrockiʼs decision to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the highest state award — the Order of the White Eagle — will strengthen the countryʼs position on the international stage.
This is stated in a survey published by the Polish Internet portal Onet.
Another 31.6% think that this decision will, on the contrary, weaken Polandʼs position. At the same time, 32% of Poles have no definite opinion on this matter.
The survey was conducted on June 24 using an online survey method. The study surveyed 810 people over the age of 18. Respondents were divided by gender, age, and location.
Navrotsky stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle on June 19. After that, Zelensky sent the order to Poland by mail.
Conflict over the name of the SOF unit
On May 26, 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 the UPA". The document states that this was done "to restore the historical traditions of the national army".
Later, former Polish President Lech Walesa reported that due to this decree he would stop wearing a badge with the Ukrainian flag, and 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.
On June 2, 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.
After Zelensky was stripped of Polandʼs highest state award, Presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko refused the Order of the White Eagle. The head of the Presidentʼs Office Kyrylo Budanov, the Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, and former Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman refused their other Polish awards.
Later, former Polish Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński reported that he would return the Order of Yaroslav the Wise to Ukraine to express his attitude “not to Ukrainians, but to Ukrainian elites” and to support his president.
And former Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak decided to return the Order of Merit to Ukraine also as a sign of solidarity with the president and the families of the victims of the Volyn tragedy.
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