Zelensky honours UPA-linked unit as Poland-Ukraine tensions rise
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree giving an elite special forces unit the honorary title "Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army", a move that has sharpened tensions with Poland. The decision has drawn attention because the UPA is associated in Poland with wartime massacres of ethnic Poles and Jews. It comes alongside a separate state ceremony in which the repatriated remains of Andriy Melnyk were reburied with full military honours near Kyiv.
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According to the decree, signed on 26 May, the title was bestowed on a unit within Ukraine's special forces. The UPA was the armed wing of the far-right Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, or OUN, during World War II. Polish historians say the violence in Volhynia and eastern Galicia killed tens of thousands of civilians, while the Polish state regards the killings as genocide.
The timing of the decree has added to the sensitivity of the issue. The day before the reburial ceremony, Zelensky presided over the return of Melnyk's remains from Luxembourg, where he had been buried after dying in Germany in 1964. Melnyk led a branch of the OUN and supported collaboration between the Ukrainian nationalist movement and Nazi Germany and its fascist allies, according to the supplied material.
He was buried alongside Ukrainian soldiers killed during the four-year struggle against the Russian invasion. The developments matter because they touch on one of the most difficult parts of Polish-Ukrainian relations: how to remember wartime nationalist figures whose legacy is contested across the border. Ukraine has been under intense pressure from Russia's invasion, and Zelensky has sought to frame wartime sacrifice and national memory in ways that support the country's defence effort.
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But the use of UPA-linked honours risks complicating relations with Poland, one of Kyiv's most important European partners. The row also reflects the long-running dispute over the OUN and UPA, which remain symbols of national resistance for some Ukrainians and of ethnic violence for many Poles. The supplied material says the UPA operated in the shifting borderlands between Poland and Ukraine during World War II and became infamous for massacres in Volhynia and eastern Galicia.
That history continues to shape official and public reactions whenever Ukrainian leaders elevate figures or units associated with the nationalist movement. Reaction in Poland has been notably strong. Former Polish president Lech Walesa said on social media that he had removed a Ukrainian flag badge from his chest after hearing of the decree, while adding that he would continue to support Ukraine's fight against Moscow.
The supplied material also says former prime minister Leszek Miller criticised the move, underscoring how the issue cuts across Polish political lines. For Zelensky, the decisions appear to sit within a broader effort to honour wartime service and national resilience during the Russian invasion. Yet the combination of the UPA-linked decree and the state reburial of Melnyk has created a politically charged moment for Kyiv-Warsaw ties.
The episode shows how historical memory can become a live diplomatic issue even during an ongoing war. What remains unclear is whether Kyiv will try to soften the fallout or whether Poland will respond formally at government level. It is also not clear whether the decree will lead to further public debate inside Ukraine about the place of OUN and UPA figures in state honours.
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The immediate question is whether the dispute stays at the level of political criticism or begins to affect broader bilateral cooperation.
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