Poland has explained what will happen to the medal returned by Zelenskyy
This was stated by the Polish President’s spokesperson, Rafał Leskiewicz, according to Polsat.
“It will be placed in a vault, where it will be kept with dignity and respect, as it is Poland’s highest and most important state honour. It will no longer be awarded to anyone else. The certificate is no longer valid, so the order, together with the certificate, will be placed in the Presidential Chancellery’s vault,” explained the President’s spokesperson.
Leskiewicz says that the Ukrainian side attempted to make contact with Karol Nawrocki’s office, but a telephone conversation between the presidents never took place — Zelenskyy allegedly declined it.
“The Ukrainian side did indeed try twice to establish contact with the President’s Office. Initially, there was an attempt to organise a telephone conversation. This was an initiative on the part of the Ukrainian side. Ultimately, this telephone conversation did not take place because President Zelenskyy did not wish to speak with President Karol Nawrocki,” explained Leskevych.
At the same time, he insists that the decision to strip Zelenskyy of the order is not directed against Ukrainians, and that Russia remains an enemy of Ukraine and of all of free Europe. Meanwhile, in Warsaw, it is believed that it was Zelenskyy himself who caused the crisis, as he “became a hostage to this political situation”.
Why Poland stripped Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle
On 26 May, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree conferring the honorary title ‘Named after the Heroes of the UPA’ on the ‘North’ Separate Special Operations Centre of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The document states that this was done “to restore the historical traditions of the national army”.
Subsequently, former Polish President Lech Wałęsa stated that, as a result of this decree, he would cease to wear a badge bearing the Ukrainian flag, and for the same reason, the Ukrainian flag – which had been flying there since 2022 alongside the flags of Poland and the EU – was removed from the town hall in Lublin, Poland.
On 2 June, Krzysztof Bosak, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Sejm, called for Ukraine’s accession to the EU to be blocked until Kyiv “renounces the cult of criminals and unblocks all exhumations” of the victims of the Volhynia tragedy.
On 19 June, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honour — the Order of the White Eagle. Following this, Presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko all declined the order. The Head of the Presidential Office, Kirill Budanov, Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga and former Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman have also declined their other Polish honours.
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