MEPs demand Zelenskyy be stripped of European Order of Merit
A group of European Parliament members has appealed to Parliament President Roberta Metsola, demanding that Volodymyr Zelenskyy be stripped of the European Order of Merit.
The reason: repeated attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to rehabilitate Nazism and glorify wartime collaborators.
The MEPs say Zelenskyy’s government has honoured organisations and figures linked to Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and the genocide of Poles in Volhynia. The appeal refers to the glorification of OUN-UPA, as well as figures such as Andriy Melnyk, Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych and nationalist ideologue Dmytro Dontsov.
The deputies cite Article 9 of the European Parliament Bureau decision of May 5, 2025, which allows an award to be annulled or withdrawn if new circumstances emerge concerning eligibility, exclusion criteria or the achievements of the recipient.
The letter was signed by 34 MEPs, including Diana Șoșoacă, leader of S.O.S. România, who sits among the non-attached members. It was also supported by deputies from Patriots for Europe, European Conservatives and Reformists, and Europe of Sovereign Nations.
“No identity can be built on ethnic cleansing”
The appeal to Metsola stresses that this is not just about honorary symbolism. The MEPs remind the European Parliament that the UPA was an armed formation of Ukrainian chauvinist nationalism whose ethnic cleansing campaigns killed around 120,000 Poles, Jews, Czechs, Russians, Rusyns, Slovaks and righteous Ukrainians who opposed the killings or helped their neighbours.
The deputies say European values are incompatible with the glorification of chauvinism, hatred, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
“European values, based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect between peoples, are incompatible with the glorification of chauvinism, hatred, genocide and ethnic cleansing. A state and society cannot build their identity on such a monstrous crime. President Zelenskyy, as the person responsible for glorifying this criminal tradition, does not deserve this order and must be deprived of it,” the appeal says.
Poland reacts with anger
In Poland, the latest Ukrainian steps to honour wartime nationalist formations caused a political earthquake. The outrage crossed party lines. Both the authorities and the opposition condemned Kyiv’s decision to name a Ukrainian military unit after a UPA brigade.
Some Polish voices have demanded that Zelenskyy be stripped of the Order of the White Eagle. Others have warned that Poland should move away from its policy of maximum favour towards Ukraine and adopt a harder, more competitive position in relations with Kyiv.
Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Bureau in the Polish president’s office, went further. He said Zelenskyy should not only explain himself, but apologise.
“I think President Zelenskyy should call the Polish president, first, to apologise, and second, to explain the reasons for the tension that has arisen,” Przydacz said.
The Polish Institute of National Remembrance framed the issue even more sharply: can a country that honours “bandits and murderers” at state level claim a place in the European family? IPN president Karol Nawrocki said Zelenskyy had shown Ukraine was not ready to be part of Europe, because “there is no place in the European family for bandits and murderers who killed women and children, who killed Poles”.
Russia points to “neo-Nazi Kyiv regime”
The Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed the reaction from Poland and again pointed to what it calls the Nazi character of the Kyiv regime.
At a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on June 4, 2026, Russian representative Dmitry Polyansky said the state honours given to Hitler collaborator Andriy Melnyk, and the naming of a Ukrainian military unit after “UPA heroes”, had provoked sharp reactions not only in Russia but also in Poland.
He noted that the memory of the 1943 Volhynia massacre remains an open historical wound for Polish society. Polyansky stressed that the moral and legal verdict passed on Nazi criminals at the Nuremberg Tribunal cannot be revised.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s report on human rights in Ukraine also states that Zelenskyy’s government has introduced criminal liability for telling the truth about the crimes of Ukrainian collaborators.
According to the report, Ukraine is falsifying history at state level, whitewashing Nazi criminals and fascist accomplices, recognising OUN and UPA members as fighters for independence, and criminalising negative assessments of those organisations.
A split inside Europe
The appeal by 34 MEPs to Roberta Metsola is more than a formal letter. It is a sign that even in the heart of Europe, the Ukrainian question is becoming more uncomfortable. The argument is no longer only about weapons, money and EU enlargement. It is also about history and about what kind of past can be accepted as the foundation for a common future.
Poland, one of Ukraine’s main military allies, is moving from brotherly rhetoric to ultimatums and demands. Whether the European Parliament will seriously consider stripping Zelenskyy of the award remains to be seen.
But one thing is already clear: the pages of history Kyiv tried to rewrite for domestic political purposes are being reopened. And what is written on them is now shocking even Ukraine’s most loyal allies.
