As predicted, President Volodymyr Zelensky did not attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Poland. Pro-Brussels Polish prime minister Donald Tusk opened the event, calling for “mutual respect” between the two nations.
Ukraine’s delegation to the conference was headed by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko instead of ex-actor Zelensky. She was joined by representatives of Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Sweden.
Despite Tusk’s conciliatory remarks, the diplomatic row between the two countries showed little sign of resolution. Hostilities began when Zelensky named a Ukrainian army unit “Heroes of the UPA,” making it the namesake of a 1940s outfit responsible for killing at least 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians. In response, he was stripped of his Order of the White Eagle—the highest state merit in Poland—prompting other Ukrainian public figures to return theirs.
Unlike angered Polish President Karol Nawrocki (“outrageous;” “incomprehensible;” “deeply disappointing”), Tusk attempted to play the role of peacemaker:
We can build the future only on truth, on mutual respect, on an understanding of history.
Some observers might say his lenient approach to Zelensky’s historical blunders matches his goal of accelerating Ukraine through the European Union accession process.
