Bartosz Cichocki, who served as Poland's ambassador in Kyiv from 2019 to 2023, has returned the Order of Merit awarded to him by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2022, RMF FM reported on 1 June. In a statement to Polish media, Cichocki said the move was a response to recent Ukrainian decisions "honoring UPA and a collaborator of German Nazis."
Zelenskyy on 26 May signed Decree 440/2026, granting the Separate Special Operations Center "Pivnich" of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces the honorary name "Heroes of UPA." The Ukrainian Insurgent Army operated during World War II and fought both Soviet and Nazi German forces, but is held responsible in Poland for the mass killing of ethnic Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in 1943–1944.
Cichocki's wartime record in Kyiv
Cichocki was widely credited with bolstering Ukrainian morale in the opening weeks of Russia's war on Ukraine, when he remained in the capital after most foreign missions relocated to Lviv. "If we leave now, it could weaken Ukrainian morale," he told Poland's PAP agency in February 2022. Zelenskyy awarded him the Order of Merit, second class, in June 2022, and then-Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi presented him the Cross of Merit in December that year.
In his statement to RMF FM, Cichocki added that any Ukrainian fighting Russian invasion, historical falsehood, and corruption could count on his support.
Polish political response
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has called for Zelenskyy to be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, which Andrzej Duda presented to him in April 2023. Nawrocki said Ukraine's glorification of UPA showed the country was "not mentally ready to be part of the European community," RMF FM reported. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the unit naming "disturbing from the standpoint of our relations and violating our historical sensitivity."
Kyiv's response
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi on 29 May said only Russia gained from Polish-Ukrainian disputes. "Our history confirms that only Moscow benefits from disputes between Ukrainians and Poles," he told reporters.
Cichocki returned only the Order of Merit; the source material does not indicate any change in status of the Cross of Merit awarded to him by Zaluzhnyi later in 2022.
