"In light of President Volodymyr Zelensky's consent to name one of the units of the Ukrainian armed forces 'Heroes of the UPA,' ... I have decided to revoke the Order of the White Eagle from the president of Ukraine," Nawrocki said in a statement.
He added that his decision "is not directed against the Ukrainian people" and that it "does not signify a change in the strategic direction of Polish security policy."
"We have supported and continue to support Ukraine because we know that Russian aggression poses a threat to the security of Poland and all of Europe," he said.
"Russia is the aggressor, and Putin is a criminal who bears responsibility for unleashing a war that has brought Europe its biggest armed conflict since the end of World War II," he added.
Nawrocki's critics said the move risked deepening tensions between Poland and Ukraine just days before a major conference on Ukraine's reconstruction is due to take place in the northern Polish city of Gdańsk.
Zelensky received the Polish Order of the White Eagle in 2023 from then-President Andrzej Duda.
Nawrocki's revocation decision prompted swift condemnation from Kyiv, the kyivindependent.com website reported, with Ukrainian officials sharply criticising Nawrocki amid a renewed diplomatic rift between the neighbours, whose relations have repeatedly been strained by unresolved historical grievances.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the decision a "strategic mistake ... from which only Moscow benefits."
"We regret that emotions have prevailed in Warsaw and have pushed Polish politicians to take unjustified, impulsive and disrespectful steps not only toward President Zelensky, but primarily toward the Ukrainian state," Sybiha said, as quoted by the Kyiv Independent.
In response to the revocation, Sybiha said he would return the Commander's Cross of the Polish Order of Merit that was awarded to him by Nawrocki's predecessor, Andrzej Duda, in 2022.
Sybiha has previously said that the Ukrainian soldiers who requested the title "had absolutely no anti-Polish intent."
"For them, it was about honouring those who, many years ago, fought against imperial Moscow, Bolshevik-communist occupation and repression," he said.
Nawrocki warns Ukraine over EU accession
In his statement, Nawrocki warned Ukraine that its "path toward European structures also requires a willingness to honestly confront the difficult chapters of its own history."
He said: "A united Europe was built on the rejection of totalitarianism and the cult of violence. For those who do not understand this, there can be no place in the European Union, and Poland will certainly not allow it."
Ukraine on Monday opened the first phase of accession talks with the European Union, marking a key step in Kyiv's long-term effort to join the bloc as it continues to defend itself against Russia's invasion.
The historical dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv focuses on the legacy of the UPA, a nationalist force that fought for Ukrainian independence during and after World War II.
Many Ukrainians regard UPA members as national heroes for resisting both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and for their role in Ukraine's struggle for independence.
In Poland, however, the group is widely associated with the Volhynia massacres, a campaign of ethnic violence in 1943-1945 in which Polish authorities say about 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists.
Tensions over the wartime killings have periodically strained relations between Warsaw and Kyiv, despite Poland's strong political and military support for Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
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Source: IAR, PAP, polskieradio24.pl, president.pl, Reuters, kyivindependent.com