After Polish President Nawrotski decided to strip the President of Ukraine of the highest Polish award — the Order of the White Eagle, Zelensky returned the award by mail. He stated that Ukraine “will not argue” with Poland’s decision, but expressed hope that “the future will confirm respect for Ukrainians.”
Following this, former presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko announced that they were also refusing Polish awards.
The fifth president of Ukraine and people’s deputy Petro Poroshenko called Navrotsky’s decision to take away the Order of the White Eagle from current president Volodymyr Zelensky a mistake. He wrote about this on social networks.
According to Poroshenko, he promised his colleagues to make such a decision two weeks ago if “we cannot convince President Navrotsky not to make the wrong decision.” He stated that his order, like Zelensky’s order, does not honor them personally, “but Ukrainians, our soldiers who defend Ukraine, Poland and all of Europe.”
“Those in Poland who do not chew on historical myths, but study history and draw conclusions from its lessons, know that after Ukraine loses its independence, Poland also loses it. I do not want Poles to edit our textbooks and in no way claim that we Ukrainians correct Polish textbooks, because otherwise they will send us a joint textbook from Moscow,” he wrote.
Poroshenko emphasized that his step is not directed against the Polish people. He also noted that he remains grateful for Ukraine’s support and “deeply convinced of the strategic value of the Ukrainian-Polish partnership.”
“If we quarrel over the past, someone else will win the future. The presidents of Ukraine and Poland must finally understand this. Before it’s too late!” These are the words of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “Only Moscow can be the winner in the war for history and orders,” is the opinion of Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. I agree with both of them, because they are in the top ten.
At the same time, I consider the decision of Polish President Karol Nawrocki to be erroneous and unfair to the people of Ukraine. It is no coincidence that Medvedev has already congratulated him. The Kremlin always applauds everything that weakens the unity between Ukraine and Poland.
In the case of Zelensky, and in In my case, it was not the heads of state who were awarded, but the Ukrainians, our soldiers who defend Ukraine, Poland and all of Europe. That is why I decided to refuse the Order of the White Eagle”, – Poroshenko emphasized.
At the same time, he proposed “starting from Monday” to look for solutions “that will not deepen the current crisis”, and recalled the formula of Pope John Paul II “we forgive and ask for forgiveness”, “which at one time helped our peoples find the path to reconciliation and partnership”.
