Zelensky returns Poland’s highest honor after it was stripped, as Ukraine says talks on shared history are difficult

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned Poland’s highest state honor after Polish authorities stripped the decoration, the BBC reported on June 20. Zelensky’s return follows a decision that ended the award’s status and prompted Ukraine to respond publicly through the president’s statements.

In remarks accompanying the return, Zelensky said Ukraine was open to engagement regarding “difficult and painful chapters of our shared past.” The comments underscored the sensitivity of historical disputes in Ukraine-Poland relations, even as both countries have maintained close security cooperation against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The BBC report characterized the returned decoration as Poland’s highest honor, indicating the event was not a minor administrative adjustment but a high-visibility diplomatic action. The move also reflects how state symbolism can become tied to historical and political questions, particularly when an award is rescinded rather than simply left unclaimed.

While the BBC account focused on Zelensky’s return and his stated readiness for dialogue, it did not provide additional specifics in the supplied material about the timeline of when the award had been stripped, the official body that ordered the change, or the exact procedural steps used by Polish authorities. The record available for this story therefore limits further confirmation of the formal legal or administrative basis for the stripping decision.

Poland’s state honors are typically administered through formal channels involving government and state institutions, and changes to such awards can carry reputational, diplomatic, and domestic implications. In this case, Zelensky’s return is likely to be interpreted by both Ukrainian and Polish audiences as an escalation of the public handling of the dispute, particularly because the act was tied directly to the honor’s withdrawal rather than to its initial granting.

For Ukraine, the decision to return the decoration puts an emphasis on how it wants the issue of historical disagreements to be discussed going forward. For Poland, rescinding and then having the award returned reflects a determination to establish boundaries around official recognition even while maintaining government-to-government cooperation on current security priorities.

The next step, based on Zelensky’s statement, is additional engagement on the disputed historical chapters. However, the supplied reporting does not specify who will lead any such dialogue, whether it will be diplomatic, academic, or governmental, or what conditions would be required to settle the question associated with the honor.