A diplomatic storm is brewing between Kyiv and Warsaw, and sources close to Downing Street confirm that British mediators are scrambling to contain the fallout. The source of the tension: the naming of a Ukrainian military unit after a controversial World War II division that fought alongside the Nazis.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to bestow an honorary title on the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS is, to put it mildly, a grenade lobbed at the fragile alliance that has held Europe together since the Russian invasion. The unit, known as the ‘Galician Division’, was composed of Ukrainian volunteers and fought against the Soviet Red Army. For Poland, whose villages were burned by the same division in the summer of 1944, this is a raw nerve.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has been blunt in private, according to diplomatic cables seen by this desk. He told EU counterparts that Zelensky’s move is “unacceptable” and risks “rewriting history to suit a nationalist agenda”. The Polish foreign ministry has summoned Ukraine’s ambassador for a formal dressing-down.
But here’s the rub: Britain needs Zelensky. And Poland needs to stay on side. So Whitehall has dispatched a senior Foreign Office official to hold Zelensky’s hand and coax him into a face-saving climbdown. The official, whose name we are withholding for security reasons, has spent the last 48 hours shuttling between Kyiv and Warsaw. The message: Western unity is more important than a divisive symbol.
Behind the closed doors of the presidential palace, there is a tussle between Zelensky’s own nationalists and Western pragmatists. The naming of the unit was seen as a cheap political move to appease the far-right, but it has backfired spectacularly. Poland has threatened to block Ukraine’s EU accession talks if the matter is not resolved. And Britain, for all its support, cannot afford to have its coalition splinter over a 1940s SS division.
Uncovered documents from the Polish Institute of National Remembrance show that the Galician Division was implicated in the massacre of tens of thousands of Polish civilians. The Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem has also condemned any glorification of the unit. “You can’t whitewash history,” one Israeli diplomat told me. “Especially when the paint is still wet.”
Zelensky’s office has tried to defuse the situation by insisting the unit will not be used for combat operations. But that’s like saying a gun is only for show. The damage is done. Poland’s ambassador to Ukraine said publicly: “We cannot accept any form of commemorating those who killed our people.”
Britain’s role as mediator is delicate. Boris Johnson’s successor has staked much on being Kyiv’s staunchest ally. But if Poland walks away from the table, the entire Western front against Russia could crack. Sources in the war cabinet say the PM is furious at Zelensky’s “stupidity” and has made it clear that the naming must be rescinded or modified.
So what happens next? Expect a deal within days: the unit gets a generic designation, Zelensky issues a statement emphasising the anti-Russian resistance, and Poland is mollified with a joint declaration condemning all forms of Nazism. It’s a patch-job, but the West has no choice. Unity comes at a price, and this one is paid in historical revisionism.
As one diplomat put it: “We can’t let a bunch of dead Nazis derail the fight against a living fascist.”
