Former Polish ambassador to Ukraine Bartosz Cichocki told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Monday that he had returned the Ukrainian Order of Merit awarded to him in June 2022 by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Cichocki said his decision was prompted by Zelensky’s actions in “honoring the UPA.”
“Honoring the UPA is unacceptable.” Cichocki returns state decoration
Last week, the President of Ukraine bestowed the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA” on one of the country’s Armed Forces units. Zelensky said the decision was made “to restore the historical traditions of the national military and in recognition of the exemplary fulfillment of assigned tasks in defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity and independence.”
Cichocki, who served as Poland’s ambassador to Ukraine from 2019 to 2023, received two Ukrainian distinctions in 2022. In June of that year, Zelensky awarded him the Order of Merit, Second Class, while in December the then Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, presented him with the Ukrainian Cross of Merit.
In a statement sent to PAP, Cichocki announced that, “in connection with the decisions of the President of Ukraine honoring the UPA and a collaborator of the German Nazis,” he returned, through the Embassy of Ukraine in Warsaw on Monday, the decoration awarded to him by Zelensky in June 2022.
“In the letter accompanying the returned decoration, I emphasized that every Ukrainian fighting against the invader, historical falsehoods, and corruption can continue to count on my support,”
the former ambassador wrote in his statement.
Zelensky’s decision has sparked a wave of criticism among Polish politicians. Last week, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced that he would take steps regarding the Order of the White Eagle awarded to Volodymyr Zelensky. Nawrocki argues that the Ukrainian leader should not retain Poland’s highest state decoration after a Ukrainian military unit was given the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA.”