The fifth Ukraine Recovery Conference opened in Gdansk on Thursday under heavy security, with the European Union transferring the initial €3 billion tranche of a €90 billion macro-financial assistance loan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not attend, sending Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko instead, after a diplomatic crisis with host Poland over historical memory. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed the disbursement and announced that a further €6 billion for drone production would begin flowing in the coming days.

The dispute centres on Zelensky’s decree of 26 May designating a special forces unit after “heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA). In Poland, the UPA is officially regarded as a genocidal organisation responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in 1943–44. Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a national-conservative rival to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, described the move as a critical error that handed propaganda material to Moscow. He subsequently revoked Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honour, prompting three former Ukrainian presidents to return their own awards in solidarity. Zelensky’s office confirmed the medal was sent back to Warsaw by post.

At the conference, both governments sought to lower the temperature. Tusk, speaking in his native city, which was largely destroyed during the Second World War, declared that the future must be built “on truth, on mutual respect, on an understanding of history.” Svyrydenko thanked Poland for its support “when it was the most urgent time,” without directly addressing the historical disagreement. Behind the conciliatory rhetoric, however, opinion polls indicate that 59.7 per cent of Poles now oppose Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, a shift that nationalist parties have exploited. Polish business representatives at the event expressed hope that commercial ties would not be affected, with firms such as Endolink SA continuing to supply medical equipment to Ukrainian hospitals.

Poland has been a critical logistics hub for Western military aid and hosts nearly one million Ukrainian refugees. Viewed from Brussels, the EU’s financial commitment signals that institutional support for Kyiv remains durable, even as the bilateral relationship with Warsaw frays. Western security assessments note that Moscow has actively sought to amplify the historical dispute to weaken the alliance. The conference proceeded with pledges of investment, but the underlying political rift remains unresolved, and no breakthrough in US-led ceasefire negotiations is in sight. The next concrete step is the continued disbursement of EU funds, while diplomatic channels between Warsaw and Kyiv are expected to address the historical commission’s work in the coming weeks.