Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Polish President Karol Nawrocki escalated the situation surrounding the revocation of his Order of the White Eagle because of internal political struggles. The president also revealed that at their first meeting, Nawrocki gave him a book about the Volyn tragedy.
Any good rational article explaining why Zelenskyy decided to use that name related to a Polish massacre? My understanding is that he can’t be picky with his allies in times of war so he made some honorific gift to the far-right to keep/get their support.
Because the unit fought both Nazis and Soviets to try to carve out an independent Ukraine. The attack on the poles wasn’t the “main” thing they did. It was also an insurgency unit not a regular unit so it’s hard to treat them as one thing. The only people who consider it the main thing are the Poles.
Here is the Polish deputy Science minister on the matter and probably one of the few rational voices in the debate
https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-poland-world-war-ii-ukrainian-military-unit-polish-politics/
The following paragraph from this Le Monde article seems to explain their reasoning:
Nationalism is poison. They may feel at the moment it’s less dangerous than the Russian invasion but I am not so sure.