Seyma Erkul Dayanc
23 June 2026•Update: 23 June 2026
Lithuania has offered to help mediate a diplomatic dispute between Poland and Ukraine following a row over World War II history, according to media reports on Tuesday.
“There was probably some heat from both sides,” Asta Skaisgiryte, foreign policy adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, told Ziniu Radijas radio.
She said tensions had escalated on both sides and called for renewed dialogue between the leaders of the two countries.
Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas said Lithuania was seeking to help ease tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv.
The row followed a decision by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to name a military unit after a group linked to the killing of ethnic Poles during World War II.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki subsequently revoked the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state distinction, which had been awarded to Zelenskyy.
Several Ukrainian officials later announced they would renounce Polish state honors in protest.
A conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction is scheduled to take place in the Polish city of Gdansk on Wednesday.
