There have long been tensions, political, economic and cultural, between Poland and Ukraine. But that hasn’t prevented Poland from being the biggest supporter of its neighbour, taking in millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war, about 1 million of whom have remained.

And in 2023, Poland conferred its highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle, on Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. At the time, then-president Andrzej Duda told the Ukrainian president: “It is difficult to hide the tears of emotion watching your service to your homeland.”

But on June 19, the current president, Karol Nawrocki, announced he was rescinding the order and stripping Zelensky of the honour. He did so after Zelensky awarded the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA” to an elite unit of Ukraine’s special forces. Zelensky said he had awarded the honour at the unit’s request. He said it was his duty as commander-in-chief, who “must provide them with everything they need to protect our people and our land”. He added: “And if they are motivated by our heroes … and if this is very important to them, I must do whatever they tell me.”

Political spats between the two countries over historical memory are nothing new. But this is the first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine to escalate to this degree. And the fact is that it has more to do with domestic Polish politics than any long-term rift between Poland and Ukraine.

First, some background. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist formation that fought against the Soviets........

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