Sybiha is returning his award to Poland in response to Zelenskyy being stripped of Order of White Eagle
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has refused the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order "For Merit to Poland" in response to Polish President Karol Nawrocki's decision to strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland's highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle.
Sybiha wrote this on his official Facebook page, according to Censor.NET.
The Foreign Minister’s démarche
Sybiha expressed deep regret that domestic political considerations and emotions in Warsaw had taken precedence over the strategic partnership. He emphasized that by revoking Zelenskyy’s order, the Polish authorities had shown disrespect not to a specific individual, but to the entire Ukrainian people, who are holding back Russian aggression.
In protest against the "reckless actions" of the Polish leadership, the Ukrainian foreign minister announced that he was renouncing his own high Polish order.
""In light of such reckless actions, I see no way to retain the high state award of the Republic of Poland—the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland—that was bestowed upon me in October 2022. I will soon return it to Poland. It’s not about the medals, but about the attitude. We have always advocated for an approach based on mutual respect—even when it comes to complex and contentious issues," Sybiha stated.
Historical dictate is unacceptable
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy responded to attempts by Polish politicians to exploit the tragic events of the Volhynia tragedy and block Kyiv’s European integration processes.
"No president of another country will dictate our history to us," Sybiha emphasized.
He recalled that over the past year and a half, Ukraine has taken systematic steps to meet Polish demands, striving to completely depoliticize history. In particular, right now—despite intense combat operations and shelling—Ukrainian experts are conducting actual search and exhumation work in Huta-Peniatska, as Warsaw had so insistently requested.
"Against this backdrop, the current escalation is counterproductive and unnecessary for both us and the Poles. We regret that, instead of seeking solutions, the Polish side has decided to escalate this tension to an unacceptable and inadequate level. We hope that eventually, reason will prevail and our Polish friends will return to an equal dialogue that corresponds to the allied relations between our countries as we confront our common enemy in Moscow," the Ukrainian Foreign Minister concluded.
- As a reminder, on June 19, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the country’s highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle, amid a scandal over the naming of an elite unit of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces after the Heroes of the UPA.
