Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to miss a significant international conference focused on the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine, amid escalating diplomatic tensions with Poland. The Ukraine Recovery Conference, scheduled to commence in the Polish coastal city of Gdańsk on Thursday, will instead see the Ukrainian delegation led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
The decision by President Zelenskyy to forgo the conference, which he was expected to co-host, comes after weeks of strained relations with Poland. The core of the dispute lies in his recent decision to name a Ukrainian military unit after the "heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA). While the UPA is viewed in Ukraine as a symbol of resistance against Soviet forces during their fight for independence, in Poland, the organisation is infamous for the killings of up to 100,000 Poles in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1945.
This historical episode, which the Polish parliament unanimously declared a "genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists" in 2016, remains one of the most painful and unresolved issues between the two nations. The naming of the unit provoked significant anger in Poland, with accusations of historical insensitivity. Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a former head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, expressed his outrage and subsequently confirmed the revocation of Poland’s highest civilian honour, the Order of the White Eagle, which had been conferred upon President Zelenskyy in 2023.
Despite extensive behind-the-scenes discussions between Warsaw and Kyiv, a compromise on the unit's naming issue could not be reached. President Nawrocki stated that "history should not be an obstacle to the future, but a good future can only be built on truth." Marcin Przydacz, Nawrocki’s chief foreign policy adviser, added, "If anyone wants to be proud of the murderers of women and children, they cannot be surprised by the reaction." In response, President Zelenskyy returned the award and criticised Nawrocki, suggesting the move was politically motivated ahead of next year's Polish parliamentary election.
President Zelenskyy defended his stance, stating that Ukrainian service members choose their unit names and, as President and supreme commander-in-chief, he must support them. He also warned that the ongoing dispute risks weakening Polish-Ukrainian relations at a critical time, especially with heightened tensions with Russia. In a rare display of cross-party unity, several of Zelenskyy's predecessors, including Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko, along with other senior Ukrainian officials, also returned their Polish honours in solidarity.