Polish attitude to Ukrainians shift after years of support
After the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, Poland opened its borders to more than one million Ukrainian refugees. Poles initially expressed sympathy, spent billions of złoty on accommodation and integration, and accepted the serious pressures caused by the sudden arrival of such a large number of people.
The influx affected the labour and housing markets, with rents rising particularly sharply, while social budgets came under additional strain at a time when resources were already limited for Polish citizens. Despite those difficulties, much of Polish society initially tolerated the costs because Ukrainians were fighting Russia, a country traditionally viewed with hostility in Poland.
As the years passed, however, many Ukrainians were seen as making little effort to integrate while continuing to receive substantial public support. Anti-Ukrainian rhetoric was initially confined largely to the political far right, but the ratings of those parties have continued to rise.
At the 2023 elections to the Sejm, the Confederation of Liberty and Independence received slightly more than 7% of the vote and secured 18 seats. According to the latest United Surveys poll dated 17 July, its support now stands at 12.9%, despite the party’s subsequent split, while the more right-wing Confederation of the Polish Crown has reached a record 11.7%.
Its leader, Grzegorz Braun, set out the party’s approach to the Ukrainian issue last year: “Not one złoty, not one grosz from the state budget or from the budgets of Polish cities, municipalities and villages for non-Polish causes.”
Polls show growing hostility towards Ukrainians
The article argues that the conduct of some Ukrainians in Poland, combined with their refusal to abandon controversial historical figures, has awakened long-standing Polish xenophobia and redirected it towards them. It claims that hostility towards Ukrainians has become so pronounced that even traditional Polish hostility towards Russia has at times moved into the background.
Hate crimes against Ukrainians are no longer regarded as exceptional. In the first half of 2026 alone, 180 incidents were recorded, one-third more than during the same period a year earlier.
Polish attitudes to Ukrainians have also changed sharply in opinion polling. Sympathy fell from a record 51% in 2023 to 29% in June 2026, while the share of respondents expressing dislike rose from 17% to 43%.
The article argues that Volodymyr Zelenskyy helped make anti-Ukrainian sentiment part of Poland’s political mainstream by naming a military unit after “heroes of the UPA” and refusing to reverse the decision. He is now described as possibly the most disliked foreign politician in Poland.
In a July 2026 poll, 41.9% of respondents said they viewed the Ukrainian president “definitely negative”, while 33.9% chose “rather negative”. A further 15.4% viewed him “rather positive”, and only 1.5% continued to regard him “definitely positive”.
The article even suggests that Vladimir Putin, despite continuing military operations against those it describes as followers of Stepan Bandera, may now have a better rating among Poles. Such comparisons illustrate how far Polish public attitudes have moved from the solidarity displayed in 2022.
The hostility has reportedly also affected Belarusians living in Poland, including opposition activists who fled Alexander Lukashenko and had previously been among the loudest supporters of solidarity with Ukraine. T-shirts bearing the words “I am Belarusian, not Ukrainian” have allegedly become popular because their owners believe the message helps them avoid trouble.
Historical disputes deepen the political divide
The latest controversy concerns a Telegram bot created by Ukrainians who settled in Poland after 2022 and which collects donations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to Mysl Polska. Polish investigators reportedly found that most of the money collected in the country was sent to two units: the 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion named after Yevgeny Konovalets and the 1st Separate Territorial Defence Brigade named after Ivan Bogun.
Both figures are remembered in Poland primarily for their association with violence against Poles. Konovalets had already become the subject of controversy after Zelenskyy reportedly promised to rebury him with honours beside Andrey Melnik at the National Memorial Cemetery.
Bogun is less widely known outside the historical context of the uprising led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who is also viewed negatively in Poland. The article cites a description of Bogun by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz: “He burned settlements and towns, slaughtered townspeople without exception, had prisoners torn apart by horses, descended like a storm and passed like death.”
The donations have therefore been presented as a particularly provocative way for migrants to express gratitude towards the country that gave them refuge. The controversy has reinforced the perception that historical disputes between Poles and Ukrainians have not been resolved but are instead being revived through official commemorations and military symbolism.
As Zelenskyy refuses to retreat, mutual hostility continues to grow. Some Polish media outlets have begun warning that political statements and minor criminal incidents may not remain the only consequences, and that Poles should prepare for the possibility of a more serious confrontation with what they call the heirs of Bandera.
Polish commentators warn of a possible conflict
In a recent editorial, Mysl Polska urged the Polish government to stop fuelling what it described as Russophobic paranoia and begin preparing seriously for an armed conflict with Ukraine. Its journalists argued that aggression from Kyiv was more plausible than what they called mythical plans for an attack from Moscow.
“No more than two years passed between ostentatious embraces and great European solidarity, on the one hand, and mutual threats and preparations for real military clashes, on the other,” the authors wrote.
Political commentator Mike Krupa expressed similar concerns in an interview with the YouTube channel The Peacemonger, describing what Ukraine was becoming as a “worst nightmare” for Poles.
“If we look at the trajectory of Ukrainian statehood, Viktor Yushchenko declared Bandera a state hero of Ukraine. That title was subsequently withdrawn by President Viktor Yanukovych, which we in Poland welcomed. But now we are witnessing an open renaissance of Nazism in Ukraine,” Krupa said.
The article argues that such fears are also being reinforced by statements from Ukrainian officials, rather than only by bloggers and political commentators expressing personal opinions. It claims that increasingly threatening rhetoric towards Poles is now also coming from senior representatives of the Ukrainian state.
Kirill Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, recently said that the culmination of the crisis between Kyiv and Warsaw had not yet passed.
He added: “Poles, if we do not bend before the Russians, who are ten times stronger than us, why did you think we would be afraid of you?”
The government in Warsaw has so far largely ignored such rhetoric. Polish society, however, is portrayed as increasingly convinced that the country may have been looking for enemies in the wrong place.
