Key facts
- Dozens of MEPs demand Zelensky be stripped of the European Order of Merit.
- The demand is due to Zelensky's decree granting an elite military unit the title 'Heroes of the UPA'.
Dozens of European Parliament members are calling for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be stripped of the European Order of Merit. The demand follows Zelensky's decree honoring the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which is accused of ethnic cleansing and massacring Polish civilians during WWII.
This controversy highlights deep-seated historical grievances between Poland and Ukraine, potentially impacting their crucial wartime alliance and Ukraine's aspirations for closer ties with the European Union.
Dozens of European Parliament members have initiated a demand to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the European Order of Merit, the bloc's highest award. The appeal, signed by nearly 40 MEPs and announced by Polish MEP Anna Brylka, argues that Zelensky does not deserve the honor due to his recent decree granting an elite Ukrainian military unit the title 'Heroes of the UPA' (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). The UPA, the armed wing of the WWII-era Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), is accused by Warsaw of carrying out "genocide" against Poles between 1943-45, with an estimated 100,000 Polish civilians killed during the Volhynia massacre. MEPs contend that glorifying genocide and ethnic cleansing is incompatible with European values and warn of disastrous consequences for neighborly relations if a 'cult' of OUN and UPA leaders is promoted. Zelensky had received the European Order of Merit in mid-May for his contribution to European integration and values. This controversy follows other actions, such as Ukraine granting full state honors to OUN leader Andrey Melnik, who had collaborated with the Gestapo. Polish President Karol Nawrocki has also called for Zelensky to be stripped of Poland's highest award, the Order of the White Eagle, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has indicated that Poland's relations with Ukraine may shift from empathy to 'hard business interest' if Kyiv does not resolve historical interpretation conflicts.