The second president, Leonid Kuchma; the third president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko; and the fifth president, Petro Poroshenko, announced that they were declining the Polish Order of the White Eagle after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the award.
Yushchenko’s spokesperson Iryna Vannykova, spokesperson for Leonid Kuchma’s “Ukraine” Presidential Foundation Darka Olifer, and Petro Poroshenko himself announced their refusal of the Order of the White Eagle on social media.
Viktor Yushchenko explained his decision as a protest against the revocation of the award from the current President of Ukraine. According to Iryna Vannykova, the order awarded to Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a sign of respect not only for the President but also for the Ukrainian people.
Yushchenko’s spokesperson also recalled joint events held by Yushchenko and former Polish President Lech Kaczyński to honor Polish victims in Huta Peniatska in the Lviv Region and Ukrainian victims in Pawłokoma on Polish territory. She noted that at that time, the presidents chose the path of reconciliation regarding issues of shared history.
Leonid Kuchma announced that he was renouncing the Order of the White Eagle, which he had been awarded in 1997. In his statement, he recalled the joint declaration on reconciliation drafted by Ukraine and Poland in 2003 with the participation of then-Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and under the spiritual mediation of Pope John Paul II.
Kuchma stated that the Polish side’s decision cannot undo the long-standing friendship between Ukrainians and Poles, while explaining that his refusal to accept the award was a response to the revocation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s order.
Petro Poroshenko also announced that he was declining the honor. He said he had planned to make this decision two weeks ago if he failed to convince Karol Nawrocki not to strip Zelenskyy of his award. According to the former president, the Polish orders were not awarded personally to politicians, but to Ukrainians and military personnel who are defending Ukraine.
Poroshenko emphasized that his move is not directed against the Polish people, expressed gratitude to Poland for its support of Ukraine, and called for finding a solution to prevent the crisis in relations between the two countries from deepening.
What is known about the Polish side’s decision regarding Zelenskyy?
On June 19, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced the revocation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Order of the White Eagle—Poland’s highest state award, which the Ukrainian President had received from Andrzej Duda.
As reported, this decision was preceded by a decree from Volodymyr Zelenskyy conferring an honorary name in honor of the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army on the North Special Operations Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Following Warsaw’s decision, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Chief of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, and Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar also decided to renounce their Polish awards.
On June 20, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he was returning the Order of the White Eagle to Warsaw, noting that he had received this award in 2023 on behalf of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army.
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