Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held more than an hour of talks on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, in what became one of the most closely watched bilateral meetings of the gathering. The conversation came amid the most serious diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Ukrainian president described the conversation as “important and necessary”. According to Zelensky, Poland and Ukraine face the same fundamental threat – Russia – and need strong relations, mutual understanding and coordinated action. The two leaders agreed to continue dialogue and work constructively on the disputes dividing the neighbouring countries.

Nawrocki struck a more cautious tone. He acknowledged that recent months had brought “a lot of tensions” to Polish-Ukrainian relations, while stressing that maintaining direct channels of communication between neighbours remained essential. At the same time, the Polish president made clear that the talks in Ankara had not resolved the historical disputes between Warsaw and Kyiv.

“We were unable to resolve historical issues during this meeting,” Nawrocki said, adding that Poland’s position on the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, and the memory of the Volhynia massacres remained non-negotiable. He described the lack of agreement in this area as a concrete problem in relations between the two countries.

A dispute over history turns into a diplomatic crisis

The meeting took place only weeks after a sharp escalation in the dispute over the memory of the UPA. The crisis was triggered by Ukraine’s decision to give a military unit an honorary name referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In Poland, the organisation is primarily associated with the massacres of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II. Polish authorities estimate that around 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists during the violence of 1943–1945.

In response, Nawrocki revoked Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration. The Polish president argued that Warsaw could continue to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and its defence against Russia while refusing to accept the glorification of people responsible for the murder of Polish civilians.

Zelensky subsequently returned the decoration, while other senior Ukrainian officials also announced the return of Polish honours. Some Ukrainian politicians accused Warsaw of allowing historical disputes to weaken the strategic partnership at a time of war. In Ukraine, the UPA is also remembered as a movement that fought for Ukrainian independence and resisted Soviet domination – an interpretation fundamentally at odds with the dominant Polish memory of the organisation.

The dispute soon began affecting high-level diplomacy. Zelensky did not attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, sending the Ukrainian prime minister to lead the delegation instead. The absence came amid the increasingly public confrontation between the two presidents.

Russia remains the common threat

Despite the dispute, both Nawrocki and Zelensky used their meeting in Ankara to underline a strategic reality that continues to bind Poland and Ukraine together.

For Warsaw, Russia remains the principal security threat on NATO’s eastern flank. For Kyiv, Poland is a key neighbour and partner in its confrontation with Moscow. Nawrocki said the two countries continue to look “in the same direction” when assessing threats to their independence, while Zelensky stressed that Ukraine and Poland face “one common threat – Russia”.

The Ankara talks therefore appear to have produced neither a breakthrough nor a further escalation. Instead, the two presidents confirmed their sharply different positions on history while agreeing that direct dialogue must continue.

For Polish-Ukrainian relations, this may be the most realistic outcome for now. The dispute over Volhynia and the UPA has moved from historical commissions and commemorative ceremonies to the highest level of bilateral politics. At the same time, Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to force Warsaw and Kyiv to cooperate on security.

The meeting between Nawrocki and Zelensky showed the central dilemma in relations between the two countries: Poland and Ukraine increasingly disagree over the past, but neither can easily ignore the strategic realities of the present.