A growing hostility towards Ukrainians in Poland, a stark contrast to the widespread support seen following Russia’s 2022 invasion, is becoming increasingly evident, with reports of verbal and physical abuse on the rise.
Shift in Polish Sentiment
Valeriia Kholkina was shopping for ice cream with her husband and four-year-old daughter in Szczecin when a man overheard them speaking Ukrainian. He told them to “Teach your daughter to speak Polish,” and then physically assaulted both parents. The attacker was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
The incident reflects a broader trend. In the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion, many Poles volunteered at the border and offered homes to Ukrainian refugees. Now, as the war approaches its fourth anniversary, surveys indicate a more negative perception of Ukrainians in Poland.
According to UNHCR statistics from September, approximately one million Ukrainian refugees are currently in Poland. Kholkina, however, is one of nearly half a million Ukrainians who arrived prior to 2022 and has lived in Poland for over a decade. “I’m more Polish than Ukrainian now … but I never thought someone would lecture me on how to talk to my own family,” she said. She now experiences panic attacks and has instructed her daughter to refrain from speaking Ukrainian in public.
Experiences of Abuse
While Kholkina’s experience was extreme, reports of abuse for speaking Ukrainian in public are becoming more common. Aliona, a 39-year-old entrepreneur in western Poland, noted a change in atmosphere. “Nowadays, when we go out, the kids whisper: ‘Mum, let’s speak Polish now.’ It wasn’t like this before. No one used to comment. Even if they heard my accent, they’d just smile,” she said.
Quantifying the scale of attacks is difficult due to underreporting, but polls demonstrate a clear shift in public opinion. Support for accepting Ukrainian refugees has dropped from 94% shortly after the invasion to 48% currently. Polish support for Ukraine joining the EU has also declined, falling from 85% in 2022 to 35%.
“There is an attitude in society that we don’t owe anything to the Ukrainians any more,” said Piotr Buras, of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Warsaw.
Contributing Factors
Several factors contribute to this change, including disinformation, viral videos online, and a shift in the political landscape. The election of Karol Nawrocki as president in June 2025 followed a campaign that moved the political debate further to the right. Ukrainians are increasingly portrayed as ungrateful and reliant on benefits, despite economic data indicating they are net contributors to the Polish economy.
Similar shifts are occurring in other European countries. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to encourage young Ukrainian men to serve in their country rather than seek refuge in Germany. His government is also considering tightening access to benefits for Ukrainian refugees.
In Poland, President Nawrocki vetoed a bill in August that would have extended financial support for Ukrainian refugees, proposing alternative legislation that would make benefits contingent on employment. A compromise bill was eventually adopted.
Online Sentiment and Historical Grievances
Oleksandr Pestrykov, of the Ukrainian House in Warsaw, observed that anti-Ukrainian sentiment first appeared online in 2023, with Polish media articles on Ukraine immediately attracting negative comments. While initially confined to the internet, this negativity is now spilling over into the real world.
“Until summer this year, this negativity rarely left the bounds of the internet; the complaints we would get from Ukrainians would be sporadic, and similar to the situation before the full-scale war. But starting from summer we’ve had a pretty large number of people reporting attacks to us, thankfully so far mostly verbal attacks,” he said.
The complicated history between Poland and Ukraine also plays a role, particularly the massacre of over 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists between 1943 and 1945. Ukraine has allowed Poland to exhume the bodies of victims, but the process is slow and remains a sensitive topic.
“The level of support for Ukraine in 2022 was an anomaly; now we are kind of returning to normal,” said Buras. “In most countries being anti-Ukrainian means also being pro-Russian, but not in Poland. Because our relations with Ukraine are laden with history, resentments and disagreements.”
Recent Events and Future Outlook
A flashpoint occurred when footage of people waving a wartime nationalist Ukrainian flag during a concert in Warsaw went viral. This led to clashes and the deportation of 63 people, including 57 Ukrainians. Right-wing discourse increasingly includes Ukrainians, a contrast to 2022 and 2023 when they were often favorably compared to non-European refugees.
A survey released late last year indicated that 58% of Ukrainians expect their children to reside in Poland “for many years.”
Anastasiia Zhelezniak, a child psychologist from Kryvyi Rih, moved to Warsaw with her two children in 2023 due to escalating attacks on her hometown. She has learned Polish, retrained as a massage therapist, and opened her own salon. She reports positive experiences with teachers and parents, but encounters negativity online and has limited her social media use.
While some Ukrainian friends have left Poland due to the changing atmosphere and rising cost of living, Zhelezniak hopes to build a future there for her children.
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