A holder of the European Order of Merit cannot glorify Nazi collaborators responsible for "monstrous" crimes, the MEPs have said

Dozens of European Parliament members have demanded that Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky be stripped of the bloc's highest award - the European Order of Merit - for glorifying World War II-era Nazi collaborators.

Zelensky was among the first recipients of the highest class of the order, which was established by the European Parliament last year. Less than a month after getting the award in mid-May for his "exceptional contribution to European integration and European values," the Ukrainian leader signed a decree granting one of the Ukrainian elite military units the title 'Heroes of the UPA' - the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The UPA, the armed wing of the WWII-era Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), was responsible for a campaign of ethnic cleansing in what is now western Ukraine between 1943 and 1944. Ukrainian nationalists killed an estimated 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now known as the Volhynia massacre.

"European values cannot be reconciled with the glorification of genocide and ethnic cleansing," Polish MEP Anna Brylka wrote on X on Friday as she announced the initiative. "One cannot build the identity of one's own state and society on such a monstrous crime," she said, adding that Zelensky "does not deserve" the order.

The appeal, which Brylka also published on X, warned that a "cult" of the OUN and the UPA leaders would have "disastrous consequences for building good neighborly relations" in Europe. "Young Ukrainians are taught to revere criminals... as heroes," the document signed by nearly 40 MEPs stated.

Zelensky's actions, including rolling out full state honors to one of the OUN leaders, Andrey Melnik, have drawn widespread condemnation. Melnik, who led the OUN from 1938, also oversaw espionage and sabotage operations for the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's military intelligence service. His remains were recently exhumed in Luxembourg and re-buried in Kiev's main military cemetery during a ceremony attended by the Ukrainian leader.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has also called for the Ukrainian leader to be stripped of the nation's highest award - the Order of the White Eagle.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk - a long-time supporter of Kiev in its conflict with Moscow - has recently said that Poland's relations with Ukraine would be built on "hard business interest" and not "empathy" if Kiev does not change course.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the Ukrainian leader's own grandfather, who fought the Nazis during WWII, "is probably turning in his grave."