Top Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that they were returning Polish state honors after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland's highest award.
The move could further strain ties between the two close strategic partners as Kyiv seeks to rally international support to pressure Russia to end its war in Ukraine.
"This is a gift to the Moscow aggressor, who will certainly use it against both of our countries," Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, wrote on social media, saying that he was returning the Gold Officer's Cross of the Polish Order of Merit.
On Friday, Nawrocki announced that Zelenskyy would be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle — Poland's highest state honor, which had been awarded by former President Andrzej Duda in 2023.
The decision followed Zelenskyy's move to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a World War II militia that Warsaw accuses of participating in massacres of Poles.
