Polish Coordinator of Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak called the decision of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026), scheduled for June 25-26 in Poland’s Gdansk, a good one, explaining that it works to de-escalate the tension that has arisen in recent weeks in relations between the countries, according to the website of Polish TV channel Polsat on Wednesday.
"A month ago, the answer would have been: it is bad that President Zelenskyy is not here, he should be. Today, as Prime Minister Donald Tusk said yesterday, under all these circumstances, it is a good decision, a decision that de-escalates tension," Siemoniak said.
At the same time, he noted that the aforementioned conference "has a much broader dimension than just Polish-Ukrainian."
"Prime Minister Svyrydenko, the head of government, a very important person in Ukraine, will come, and there will be no tension associated with the presence of President Zelenskyy… The context of the UPA and history would dominate this conference, because journalists would ask Zelenskyy about it at every opportunity," the minister said.
Siemoniak criticized the decision of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the naming of one of the Ukrainian units, calling it a "huge mistake," but noted that the de-escalation of relations between the countries is currently necessary due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
"On the Polish side, there will definitely be less cordiality, but reason dictates that we must have proper relations with Ukraine. We must seek the support of the West, the United States, for Ukraine. We must strive for a peace agreement, and also try to be at the negotiating table, and that’s all," he concluded.
As reported, at the end of May 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assigned the Separate Special Operations Center "North" of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the honorary name "named after the Heroes of the UPA." The decision caused criticism in Poland, where the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is linked to the Volyn tragedy.
On June 19, President of Poland Karol Nawrocki announced the decision to strip President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle, explaining this by disagreements regarding historical memory and the attitude toward the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Following this, the second President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, the third President Viktor Yushchenko, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk, and a number of other Ukrainian statesmen refused the Polish award.
On June 23, it became known that the Ukrainian delegation at the conference in Gdansk will be led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
