There are many indications that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to name one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the “Heroes of the UPA” was a mistake, and that the Ukrainian side was aware of this. Despite warnings, Zelensky allegedly ignored the concerns, using scandalous words directed at Poland and the Polish people.
President Zelensky announced yesterday that he had sent the Order of the White Eagle back to President Karol Nawrocki. A day earlier, the Polish president had announced that he was stripping the Ukrainian leader of Poland’s highest state decoration. The decision was connected to the naming of one of Ukraine’s military units after the “Heroes of the UPA.”
In response to Zelensky being deprived of the Order of the White Eagle, several Ukrainian officials also renounced their Polish state decorations: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy Ihor Zhovkva, and Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar.
Commenting on the entire situation, journalist Arleta Bojke recalled remarks made by a former deputy of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. Ihor Mosiychuk revealed that when Zelensky was warned that the decision to name a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the “Heroes of the UPA” could “irritate the Poles,” the Ukrainian president allegedly replied: “F*** Poland and the Poles.”
“This would show his attitude toward our country,”
Bojke said.