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Ukraine·Poland·Diplomacy·Human Rights

Zelenskyy skips Ukraine reconstruction conference amid deepening rift with Poland over military unit name

Wednesday, 24 June 2026, 06:29 · 1 min read

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has withdrawn from the Ukraine Recovery Conference in the Polish city of Gdańsk, sending Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in his place, after a diplomatic dispute with Poland over his decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) — a Second World War partisan force celebrated in Ukraine as a symbol of independence but condemned in Poland for the massacre of up to 100,000 Poles in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1945. The annual conference, which brings together international partners to plan Ukraine's postwar reconstruction, is being hosted by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who had urged both sides to de-escalate; Polish President Karol Nawrocki has revoked Zelenskyy's Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest civilian honour, to which Zelenskyy responded by returning the award by post and accusing Nawrocki of exploiting anti-Ukrainian sentiment ahead of parliamentary elections. The EU warned that only Russia stood to gain from the deteriorating relationship between the two countries, which have been close allies since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Sources
The GuardianVolodymyr Zelenskyy to skip postwar conference amid tensions with Poland ↗︎
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