The attitude of Poles to Ukraine has changed. The main reason for Zelenski's decision

Negative reactions to "UPA heroes"

At the end of May, the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski gave 1 of the military units the name “UPA heroes”, which sparked strong controversy in Poland. According to a survey conducted by SW investigation for Rzeczpospolita, 51.9 percent of Poles admitted that the decision worsened their attitude towards Ukraine and Ukrainians, while the improvement of attitudes declared only 4.5 percent of respondents.

31.9% of respondents said that their opinion had not changed and 11.7 percent had no opinion. A negative reaction was more common among men than women, and the most prominent was in the group up to the age of 24.

Justyna Sobczak of SW investigation indicated that the decision of the president of Ukraine made relations with Ukraine more hard among men than women. The most critical were those under the age of 24. Respondents with vocational education, people earning up to PLN 3000 net and residents of cities with between 100 and 199 1000 inhabitants besides declared a negative attitude.

The survey was conducted by SW investigation on 9–10 June 2026 among 800 adult net users utilizing the SW Panel online panel. The example was selected by random-quota method, and its results were corrected utilizing analytical scales to correspond to the structure of adult Poles in terms of the most crucial socio-demographic characteristics.

Criticism of Polish politicians

Following the decision of the president of Ukraine to give the elite unit of the Ukrainian army the name “UpA Heroes”, Confederacy Club president Grzegorz Płaczek called on president Karol Nawrocki to take distant Zelensk Order of the White Eagle, granted to him in 2023 by Andrzej Duda. In connection with the Nawrocka case, he convened a gathering of the White Eagle Order Chapter. The details of the talks were not disclosed, and president Rafał Leśkiewicz's spokesperson only reported that the chapter presented its opinion, while the decision of the head of state was to be taken later.

Another action that was taken due to the controversial decision was the call of the Ukrainian Ambassador Vasil Bodnar to the Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs.

The national defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish in turn assessed Zelenski's decision as "unacceptable". In fresh days in Poland there have besides been talks between representatives of the authorities and the head of the Ukrainian President's office Kyryel Budanov.