Nawrocki mentions 'tense issues' in Independence Day letter to Zelenskyy – Polish official
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of Poland Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw, December 19, 2025 (Photo: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel)
Polish President Karol Nawrocki sent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an Independence Day letter that addressed tensions between the two countries over historical issues, presidential aide Marcin Przydacz told RMF24 on Aug. 26.
According to Przydacz, Nawrocki wished Ukraine victory over Russia in his congratulatory letter but noted that “there are a number of contentious issues that we would like to gradually resolve.”
“The most important thing is that Poland is interested in good-neighborly relations. They must be based on certain fundamental principles, and one of those principles is historical truth,” Przydacz said.
He added that dialogue between the Polish president’s office and the Ukrainian Presidential Office is continuing, but there are currently no plans for Karol Nawrocki to visit Kyiv.
“Such a trip is not on the agenda in the coming months. The president will focus on issues related to the G20 until December, when the G20 summit will take place in Miami,” Przydacz said.
Zelenskyy published numerous Independence Day greetings from world leaders, including a message from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. However, a congratulatory letter from Polish President Karol Nawrocki was not among those published.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Ukraine’s Independence Day that Moscow’s imperial doctrine remains the main problem for both Warsaw and Kyiv. “We in Poland and you in Ukraine have decided this: We will never again be Russian colonies,” Sikorski said.
Tensions between Ukraine and Poland
On June 19, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state decoration, the Order of the White Eagle. Nawrocki said the decision to name a Ukrainian military unit after the “Heroes of the UPA” went “far beyond Ukraine’s internal affairs.”
On June 20, several Ukrainian politicians, including Presidential Office head Kyrylo Budanov, former Presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko, announced that they were returning their Polish state decorations.
The same day, Zelenskyy said he had sent the Order of the White Eagle back to the Polish president, publishing photos from a Nova Poshta branch.
The Ukrainian president had been expected to attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk but decided not to go. The delegation was led by then-Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
On July 3, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with his Polish counterpart, Radoslaw Sikorski, and proposed a package of measures to ease tensions, including a meeting of historians and experts on World War II issues.
On July 11, Nawrocki, speaking at events marking a local day of remembrance for the victims of the Volhynia tragedy, called on the Polish parliament to pass legislation banning the red-and-black flag used by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, or OUN, and its armed wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA.
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