Democracy Digest: Poland and Ukraine Seek to Contain Fallout from WWII Dispute

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to bestow one of Ukraine's military units with the honorary name “Heroes of the UPA” continues to reverberate in Polish-Ukrainian relations, prompting calls for restraint from both Warsaw and Kyiv. The controversy is rooted in sharply different Polish and Ukrainian historical interpretations of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA): while many Ukrainians view the UPA as a symbol of the struggle for national independence, Poles associate it primarily with the massacres of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II. The dispute escalated after Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced in late May that in response he would seek to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state distinction – a decision he is yet to make. In recent days, however, both administrations have sought to cool tempers. Polish PM Donald Tusk said he had personally intervened and called on the Polish and Ukrainian presidents to hold a “direct and honest conversation” before tensions undermine bilateral solidarity. Kyiv responded with a conciliatory message. A spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged that historical disputes have recently become more acute, but said the two countries had made substantial progress over the past 18 months in tackling difficult questions about their shared past, including a number of search and exhumation projects conducted in late 2024. He also warned that those seeking reasons for conflict would always find them and that both countries share a common adversary: Russia. Efforts to contain the fallout have extended beyond public statements. Over the weekend, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, visited Warsaw for talks with senior Polish officials, including Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and representatives of the Presidential Office, National Security Bureau and Foreign Ministry. The timing of the dispute is awkward, coming as it did two weeks before Poland and Ukraine are due to co-host the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, a flagship event intended to rally political and business support for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Zelensky is expected to make an appearance, and Tusk said he had received no signals that Kyiv intended to change its plans.

Just weeks after being released from a Belarusian penal colony in a high-profile prisoner exchange, Polish-Belarusian journalist and minority activist Andrzej Poczobut says he intends to return to Belarus in September. Speaking in Bialystok on Wednesday, Poczobut said Belarus remained his home and he planned to go back there, despite years spent in prison and his recent release to Poland. “It can be judged in different ways and things may turn out differently, but I am optimistic. I would not have agreed to leave if I had not received a passport and assurances that I would be able to return to Belarus,” he told reporters. “My home is in Grodno,” he added, saying he remains needed by the Union of Poles in Belarus, an organisation representing Belarus’s Polish minority. Poczobut was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2023 on charges widely viewed as politically motivated. His release in April came as part of the first prisoner exchange conducted on Polish territory since WWII, following more than two years of negotiations involving multiple countries and intelligence services. According to Polish media reports, the effort required coordination between agencies from Poland, the US, Romania, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus.

Slovak MP Miroslav Radačovský during the 43rd session of the National Council in Bratislava on November 25, 2025. PHOTO TASR – Jaroslav Novák

Slovak president urged to halt controversial envoy pick; long-standing EU funds problems

President Peter Pellegrini is facing pressure to halt Miroslav Radacovsky’s appointment as Slovakia’s ambassador to Cyprus after a controversial parliamentary hearing. Radacovsky was due to receive his credentials on Thursday, but Pellegrini, who has delayed the nomination for months, has given no indication of whether or when the appointment will proceed. The issue has once again attracted attention because of Radacovsky’s recent appearance before the parliamentary foreign affairs committee. Lawmakers had expected the government nominee to outline his priorities for Cyprus, one of Slovakia’s most strategically important diplomatic postings. Instead, Radacovsky, a 72-year-old former judge and independent MP elected on the far-right SNS party ticket, acknowledged that he had no diplomatic experience. During the hearing, he criticised opposition MPs and suggested that one of them could leave the room through a window. Opposition parties have since renewed their calls for Pellegrini to block the appointment. Tomas Valasek, an opposition MP and former ambassador to NATO, described the nomination as one of the worst in Slovakia’s h…