Government data show that at least 2.5 million Ukrainians live in Poland, which accounts for almost 7% of the country's population.Oksana Pestrykova, coordinator for exile support in Warsaw, said on Wednesday The Times that the atmosphere was much more friendly 3 years ago and that Ukrainians now avoid speaking in their native language in public or in public transport."People say that children in school and people in line to the doctor tell them to go home to Ukraine" – she said.Another Ukrainian citizen told the BBC that anti-Ukrainian sentiments have increased in fresh months, reports of abuses in public transport, school intimidation and xenophobic content on the net have been reported."At work many people say that Ukrainians come here and behave badly.
And my Ukrainian friends say they want to go home due to the fact that Poles do not accept us.
It is terrible to live here now” said 1 of the refugees.Tensions were exacerbated by the divided election run in Poland, and the first circular of voting is scheduled for Sunday.The utmost right-wing politician Sławomir Mentzen, 3rd in the polls, took a decisively anti-Ukrainian position and supports the conclusion of a peace agreement with Russia.Conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, presently in second place, opposes Ukraine's membership in the EU and NATO, as well as financial assistance to refugees, although he supports further military assistance to Kiev.The leader of the race is Rafał Trzaskowski, affiliated with the coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and seen as the most pro-Ukrainian candidate, although he besides committed to reducing social benefits for Ukrainian citizens.Support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland declined sharply, as the CBOS Center survey of March 2025 showed, with only 50% of Poles advocating their adoption – much below 81% recorded 2 years earlier.About a million Ukrainians are officially registered as arriving from 2022, and Poland has allocated 4.2% of its GDP to their support, according to BBC data.
Translated by Google Translator
source:https://www.rt.com/news/617609-poland-anti-Ukrainian-sentiment/
