Former Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki spoke out against halting aid to Ukraine due to UPA scandal: "It would be better if Ukrainian soldiers died"
Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke out against cutting off military aid to Ukraine, pragmatically noting that it is better for Warsaw’s security if Ukrainian soldiers contain Russian aggression on the battlefield. The statement came amid a scandal over the renaming of a unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Special Operations Forces in honor of the "Heroes of the UPA."
He made these remarks in an interview with the Polish radio station RMF FM, according to Censor.NET.
Why aid cannot be stopped
Morawiecki noted that Poland "gained a great deal" from the scandal surrounding the name of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit.
"I speak with many representatives of the international community, leaders from the U.S. and Europe. Some of them have learned what the Volhynia-Galicia Massacre was," he explained.
Morawiecki refused to support a radical initiative by his colleague in the "Law and Justice" party, MP Przemysław Czarnek, who called for a complete block on arms deliveries to the Ukrainian Armed Forces until the historical dispute is resolved.
"I do not agree with blocking military aid. I would rather see Ukrainian soldiers die in Ukrainian tanks than Polish soldiers die in Polish tanks," Morawiecki said.
He added that he also has no intention of renouncing the Ukrainian Order of Yaroslav the Wise, which was awarded to him.
The politician noted that Poland’s aid at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion was "conditional"—"you are defending yourselves against the Russians, you are dying so that we can be a little safer."
Despite calls not to halt arms deliveries, the former prime minister criticized Donald Tusk’s current government for an alleged "lack of persistence" in its dialogue with Kyiv, adding that he would continue to advocate for "a change in Polish-Ukrainian relations to finally take place."
The scandal involving the unit named after the Heroes of the UPA
- Tensions in Ukrainian-Polish relations flared up after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on May 26 conferring the honorary title "Named After the Heroes of the UPA" on the "North" Special Operations Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The text of the document stated that the decision was made with the aim of "restoring the historical traditions of the national army."
- On May 29, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced his intention to strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle—Poland’s highest honor, which had been awarded to him in 2023 by then-Polish President Andrzej Duda.
- Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa, in protest, demonstratively removed the pin with the Ukrainian flag that he always wore and accused Zelenskyy of "honoring UPA bandits," which, in his words, "offended him personally and all the Poles who were killed."
- Bartosz Cichocki, the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Poland to Ukraine, officially returned the Order of Merit—which Zelenskyy had awarded him in 2022—in response to the same decision.
- Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Bureau at the Office of the President of Poland, stated that Volodymyr Zelenskyy should personally call his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki and formally apologize for naming a Special Operations Forces unit "after the Heroes of the UPA."
