Zelenskyy skips Ukraine recovery conference in Poland amid WWII memory dispute

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not attend a key post-war recovery conference in Poland this week, Kyiv confirmed on Tuesday, as a diplomatic dispute between the allies over Second World War history continues to escalate.

Background to the Dispute

Zelenskyy angered Warsaw last month by naming a military unit after the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) — a group that participated in massacres of Polish civilians during the Second World War.

In response, Poland's nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, stripped Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, Warsaw's highest honour. Several top Ukrainian officials subsequently returned their own Polish awards in solidarity.

Conference Details

The Ukraine Recovery Conference is scheduled to begin on Thursday in Gdańsk. It aims to bring together business leaders and officials to discuss the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Georgiy Tykhy, confirmed that Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko would lead the delegation instead, citing the need to avoid "excessive politicisation" and "scandals."

"Through diplomatic channels we are in constant contact," Tykhy said of relations with Poland.

Poland's Role as an Ally

Since Russia's invasion in 2022, Warsaw has been one of Ukraine's most important allies:

• Taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees
• Serving as a logistics hub for Western support to Kyiv

The conference — previously held in Rome, Berlin, and Lugano, Switzerland — was intended to reinforce Poland's position as Kyiv's neighbour and ally, amid Polish concerns that it could be sidelined during eventual peace talks.

Efforts to Defuse Tensions

Earlier Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk — a political opponent of President Nawrocki — sought to calm the situation:

"I am also counting on the fact that on both the Polish and the Ukrainian side there will be more people who will be able to stand up to these moods and emotions, and who will lead both Poland and Ukraine toward the future."

Despite being an ally of Ukraine, Tusk has placed blame for the crisis on Kyiv and called on Zelenskyy to reverse his decision regarding the UPA military unit.

Ukrainian Response

Poland's demand has provoked anger in Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy accused Polish politicians of trying to score "political points" domestically and of fuelling anti-Ukrainian sentiment.

"We are defending Poland, we are defending Europe right now, not the other way around. Our fighters are defending it, and Ukrainians are dying," he told Ukrainian media on Sunday.

Zelenskyy symbolically returned the Polish award over the weekend. In a show of solidarity, his predecessors Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko also sent their awards back.

The UPA's Historical Record

The UPA fought both the Nazis and the Soviets in its quest for an independent Ukrainian state. It killed thousands of Polish civilians between 1943 and 1945 in Volhynia — a Ukrainian region that was part of Poland before the Second World War.

Zelenskyy said he named the military unit after the UPA following requests from Ukrainian soldiers, and that he had signed similar decrees "hundreds of times during the war."

"I've never told them (soldiers) what I like or don't like," he said.

Some Ukrainian soldiers have invoked the UPA's legacy as an anti-Soviet force. This trend has been criticised by both Warsaw and Moscow, who view the insurgents as war criminals and Nazi collaborators.

Political Context

Zelenskyy has accused Polish politicians of seeking domestic gain from the dispute ahead of parliamentary elections next year.

"You radicalise society and where will this social hatred lead? To ratings. This is a political struggle that can end badly," Zelenskyy said.

Poland is home to over 1.5 million Ukrainians — including refugees who arrived after 2022 and economic migrants. In recent weeks, there have been a series of anti-Ukrainian incidents in Poland.