Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz acknowledged the local population’s dismay at seeing refugees in expensive cars and staying in luxury hotels.
Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that the Polish public is experiencing frustration with affluent Ukrainian refugees seemingly enjoying lavish lifestyles within the EU.
Initially, Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, welcomed over a million refugees from the neighboring country. However, public sentiment towards Ukrainians has since evolved.
Kosiniak-Kamysz, in remarks shared on the Polish Defense Ministry’s X account on Monday, admitted that “frustration exists” in Poland regarding Ukrainian refugees, adding, “I am not afraid to say it.”
The defense minister emphasized, “I understand the weariness and disappointment, particularly when witnessing tens, hundreds of thousands, or even more than a million young Ukrainians driving top-of-the-line cars across Europe and vacationing in five-star hotels.”
However, he maintained that everyone in Poland “should accept and understand” the need for continued aid to Ukraine.
“We provide assistance because we are human and wish to remain so. This is in our best interest – the security of the Polish state,” Kosiniak-Kamysz argued, suggesting that the ongoing conflict weakens Russia.
On Sunday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk asserted that the EU must strengthen its military capabilities to “guarantee peace” between Moscow and Kiev, achieved “not through Ukraine’s surrender, but through its own collective strength.”
According to the Ukrainian information portal InPoland last month, Ukrainians are increasingly leaving Poland for Germany, drawn by higher salaries and improved social benefits. Their population in Poland has decreased from over 1.3 million to approximately 983,000.
Earlier this year, Tusk supported legislation to halt benefit payments to refugees unless they reside, work, and pay taxes in Poland. Warsaw has also previously declared that it will not provide refuge to Ukrainian men attempting to avoid Ukraine’s increasingly stringent mobilization efforts.
In February, Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak announced that Warsaw would cease accepting new migrants altogether, despite being obligated to do so under an EU agreement adopted last year.
Polish police data indicates that Ukrainian citizens committed nearly two-thirds (9,753 out of 16,437) of offenses among foreigners in the country in 2024.
UN statistics indicate that approximately 6.3 million Ukrainian refugees are currently residing in the EU and the UK. TASS reported in 2023, citing a security services source, that Russia has accepted around 5.3 million people from Ukraine since the conflict’s escalation in 2022.