Poland unlikely to cancel Ukraine reconstruction conference, MP says

“I hope it won't happen, because now is precisely the time we need to talk, and this is an opportunity to do so,” Merezhko said.

“I'm confident it won't happen. Of course there's no absolute certainty — maybe 10% — but I'm 90% sure it will go ahead. The conference is vitally important not only for Ukraine but for Poland itself, because it concerns Poland’s national interest in taking part in Ukraine’s reconstruction. For that reason alone it will not be canceled.”

On June 8, former Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might skip the Gdansk conference because of the recent dispute.

The dispute began after Zelenskyy’s May 26 decree gave the Separate Center for Special Operations North of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces an honorary name honoring the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The move drew a sharp reaction in Poland.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki later proposed stripping Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, which Nawrocki’s predecessor, Andrzej Duda, awarded to the Ukrainian president in April 2023. Duda said the award had been given to Zelenskyy “at a different time and under different circumstances.”