Politico: Anti-Ukrainian sentiment gains ground in Poland

Poland’s nationalist right is increasingly turning opposition to the country’s roughly 1.5 million Ukrainians into a major political issue, with resentment over social benefits and wartime history gaining prominence ahead of the 2027 parliamentary election.

Anti-Ukrainian rhetoric intensified during the 2025 presidential campaign, when politicians increasingly portrayed Ukrainians as beneficiaries of undeserved social support and a burden on Poland’s public finances, Politico writes.

The issue is now emerging as a key challenge for Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s broadly pro-Ukraine coalition, which is expected to face the nationalist Law and Justice party and two far-right parties in the autumn 2027 parliamentary election. Polls indicate that Tusk is far from certain of securing victory.

The libertarian Confederation party has criticised social welfare payments to Ukrainians, while Grzegorz Braun, a European Parliament member and leader of the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown party, said: “The Kyiv regime is neither our ally nor our friend, it is our enemy,” during a summer gathering commemorating the wartime killing of Polish civilians by Ukrainians.

Public attitudes toward Ukrainians have also deteriorated. According to an annual survey by state-run pollster CBOS, sympathy among Poles for Ukrainians fell from 51% in 2023 to 29% in January 2026, while antipathy increased from 38% to 43% over the past year.

Another CBOS poll found that 45.4% of respondents attributed the deterioration in relations to disputes over wartime massacres and historical policy. Social benefits received by Ukrainians ranked second, cited by 36.4% of respondents.

Historical disputes have further strained relations between the two countries. Tensions increased following Kyiv’s decision to name a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which has been associated with the killing of Polish civilians during World War II.

By Sabina Mammadli