Former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller said on Polsat television that Kiev should return to Warsaw not awards, but the weapons and military equipment supplied to the Ukrainian army.

According to Miller, if Ukrainian officials are so eager to send back what they received, they should return the MiG fighter jets, tanks and other weapons as a gesture of goodwill.

He also noted that the Order of the White Eagle had previously been awarded to controversial figures, including Benito Mussolini. In his view, Vladimir Zelensky could have refused the award, given the list of its past recipients, but chose not to do so.

Earlier, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of Poland’s highest state honor, the Order of the White Eagle. Zelensky returned the award by mail, pointing out that in different periods it had also been given to Catherine II, Mussolini and Gerhard Schroeder.

Later, three former Ukrainian presidents also renounced their highest Polish awards in a show of solidarity and sent them back to Warsaw. Other senior Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga, later followed their example.