Zelenskyy's Absence Fractures Poland-Ukraine Alliance at Reconstruction Summit

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will skip the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk on June 25–26, where his delegation will be led by First Deputy Prime Minister Svyrydenko instead. The move follows Polish President Nawrocki's June 19 revocation of Zelenskyy's Order of the White Eagle over Ukraine's naming a military unit after the controversial World War II Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Zelenskyy's officials returned Polish decorations in response, closing diplomatic avenues. While the conference's reconstruction agenda—pledges, infrastructure coordination, investment frameworks—remains substantive, Zelenskyy's absence weakens the symbolic force of allied solidarity at a co-hosted conference designed to signal international commitment to Ukraine's future.