Analysis of Ukraine's Diplomatic Stance

That doesn't matter at all. It's just that we were very angry.

The President's Office is unable to understand causal relationships

in foreign policy. We thought—and not only the President's Office, but also the government—

that we would blackmail Ukraine in such a harsh way that it would withdraw this name.

And Ukraine did not withdraw the name of UPA heroes for the military unit.

Why?

Because Ukraine announced it. It will not yield to pressure from foreign countries.

Because it is a sovereign state. It does not want others to influence it.

Just like any sovereign state, it is unable to yield to pressure.

And I just want to remind you that Ukraine did not yield to the pressure of other actors either.

I recall President Zelenskyy's meeting with Donald Tusk.

And now, to expect.

that we would blackmail them in such a way as to achieve our goals was a complete misunderstanding of foreign policy.

So we shouldn't have proposed this at all, with this stripping of the medal.

We should have reacted very strongly, because I believe that naming it strikes at our dignity, strips us.

We should have taken decisive diplomatic steps. We could have summoned the ambassador, we could have issued a very serious note,

we could have even passed a parliamentary resolution on this matter.

And these are the proper diplomatic steps, but we resorted to dignity-based behavior, which we lost so terribly and completely,

because first of all, the name was not changed, the medal was downgraded, and relations were ruined.