Zelenskyy returns Poland's highest honor as row deepens

Key Points:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top officials are returning Polish state honors after Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenskyy of Poland's highest award, the Order of the White Eagle, citing Zelenskyy's naming of a military unit after the controversial Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
• Zelenskyy described the returned medal as a former symbol of Poland's highest trust but indicated it lost meaning after Nawrocki's decision, which Ukrainian officials say benefits Russia and harms Ukraine-Poland relations.
• Poland, a key ally hosting many Ukrainian refugees, maintains it will continue supporting Ukraine's defense despite the diplomatic rift caused by the honor revocation.
• Ukrainian diplomats, including Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, also renounced their Polish awards in protest, calling the Polish decision a strategic mistake that aids Moscow.
• Separately, a Russian airstrike on Kharkiv killed one person and injured nine, while Russia claimed to have intercepted 187 Ukrainian drones overnight amid ongoing intensified attacks between Moscow and Kyiv.