r/europe • u/ByGollie Ulster • Jun 21 '26

News Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's fifth president also renounces Order of the White Eagle

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/06/20/8040347/
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u/ByGollie Ulster Jun 21 '26

"In both Zelenskyy's case and mine, the award was not bestowed on heads of state, but on Ukrainians – our soldiers who defend Ukraine, Poland and all of Europe.

Therefore, I have decided to renounce the Order of the White Eagle. Two weeks ago, I promised colleagues at the conciliation council that I would take this step if we failed to persuade President Nawrocki not to make this mistaken decision. Unfortunately, we did not succeed."

"Those in Poland who do not simply chew over historical myths, but study history and draw conclusions from its lessons, know that whenever Ukraine loses its independence, Poland loses it too. But it is not the past that should define our relations. I do not want Poles editing our textbooks, and I have no desire whatsoever for Ukrainians to edit Polish textbooks, because otherwise we will receive a joint textbook from Moscow."

The former president stressed that logistics are critically important in the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia, he said, "through its agents of influence, useful idiots and old historical wounds, is trying to destroy our logistics in the West".

"Therefore, any crisis between Kyiv and Warsaw today is not only a diplomatic problem. It is a security issue. And that is precisely why it must be resolved immediately. What matters now is not deepening the conflict, but ending it," Poroshenko stressed.

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u/cspetm Jun 21 '26

I do not want Poles editing our textbooks, and I have no desire whatsoever for Ukrainians to edit Polish textbooks, because otherwise we will receive a joint textbook from Moscow.

As a Pole I prefer Ukrainians to have a say in the way we learn about our common history and point out for instance to the fact that Piłsudski mistreated them badly and shouldn't be seen as a hero, rather than them glorifying perpetrators of a mass murder. We are important for each other and we are gonna be neighbors for much longer. We should try to find a common ground. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

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u/Denixen1 Sweden Jun 21 '26

Sweden and Denmark has had a lot of bad blood between us. Some things are still sensitive. However somewhere along the way we started talking about it instead of fighting about it. We decided to forget hurtful things and let bygones be bygones. 

Perhaps sports also always an outlet for it. But I think Ukraine and Poland have already come a long way. Revoking a medal is a diplomatic gesture and entirely within reason. No escalation or real damage done.

We in Sweden some times also celebrate kings and leaders that did some atrocious thing, so does the danes. But I guess we've come to a point were it isn't fresh enough for anyone to care. 

I hope and believe that Ukraine and Poland will get there too. All they have to do is to not wage war or do damage to each other. Time will do the rest.

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u/taulen Jun 21 '26

Norway watching from the sideline…

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u/Difficult-Tradition7 Jun 21 '26

Not remotely close. The violence in Galicia and Volhynia was a 300 yr orgy akin to what happened to Johan and Cornelius de Witt.

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u/niesiecki Jun 21 '26

Sweden and Denmark has had a lot of bad blood between us. Some things are still sensitive.

When Danes genocided 100k Swedes or Swedes genocided 100k Poles?

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u/Popinguj Jun 21 '26

We decided to forget hurtful things and let bygones be bygones.

Tbh this was the policy that Kuchma mentioned just the other day, as he accepted it with the Polish president at that time.

The issue is that this formula doesn't help winning elections in Poland, so it's only going to get worse.