War refugees complain of ill -treatment in Poland

Svetlana says her daughter loved her school in Poland.

“Even when we moved to another region, she did not want to change schools,” says 31 -year -old Ukrainian mother. “I loved it so much. There was no bullying.”

Now she says that the atmosphere in school – and in Poland in general – has changed.

“Two weeks ago, she returned home and said,” One of the boy told me today, “Go back to Ukraine.” Svetlana was surprised.

It is one of the dozens of Ukrainians who live in Poland who have told BBC that anti -Ukrainian feelings have increased significantly in recent months.

Many have described exposure to abuse on public transport and bullying in schools and terrorist materials via the Internet.

A polarized presidential election campaign added to stress, as the first round of voting takes place on Sunday.

The next day, the daughter of Svetlana was said to return to Ukraine, the abuse became worse.

“The girls from the classroom began to complain about her Ukrainian talk. Then they pretended to fall on the ground while screaming,” the missile! Row! And he laughs, “says Svitlina. “She came home crying.”

A Russian missile in the hometown of Svetlana in Ukraine criticized a few days ago, killing dozens of civilians, including children. Her daughter was a shock.

Svitlana – her real name does not want to get to know it as it is He fears revenge. She explained to us the screenshots of the messages with school staff as she complains about her daughter’s treatment.

She said that she noticed that the positions are changing towards the Ukrainians elsewhere as well: “At work, many people say that the Ukrainians come here and behave badly. My Ukrainian friends say they want to go home because Polish people do not accept us. It is frightening to live here now.”

According to government statistics, at least 2.5 million Ukrainians live in Poland, and it includes nearly 7 % of the total population of Poland.

When the complete invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, there was an flow of sympathy from the Polish. “It was great. Every day people were calling him, they asked,” How can we help? “

“Some of them organized human convoys or brought refugees here. They gave their homes, food, and all they have – and their hearts as well.”

Three years later, Natalia says she believes that the majority of Polish are still supporting Ukraine. But some not-its organization noticed an increase in anti-online anti-control, which started several months ago.

“Then I started to come to real life,” she says. “Recently, we have more and more of these types of parking … the hatred of foreigners (ill -treatment) for people working in stores or hotels just because they speak a Ukrainian accent.”

Natalia says that many Ukrainian refugees are shocked. “These groups of women and children in Poland are due to war, and their relatives are often on the line of confrontation, in captivity or dead … and this is the group of people who are targeted.”

Research indicates that Poland’s public opinion of the Ukrainians is really getting worse. According to a survey conducted by the respected CBOS Center in March 2025, only 50 % of the Polish support the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees, a decrease in seven percentage points in four months. Two years ago, the number was 81 %.

About a million Ukrainians are officially registered as they arrived after the start of the comprehensive invasion. Poland spends 4.2 % of GDP on Ukrainian refugees.

Ukraine has become a hot political issue in the decisive presidential campaign of Poland.

Slawomir Mentzen, who is currently eliminating the third, is a Ukrainian flammation and supports “agreement” with Vladimir Putin, Russia.

In second place, the governor of Carole Noruki, who opposes the membership of the European Union and NATO in Ukraine and the financial assistance of refugees, is there, but it supports the war effort.

The most supportive candidate for Ukraine is Rafale Tarsinski of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s alliance, although he promised to reduce the social welfare of the Ukrainians.

Political analyst Marine Zaburovsky says that Truzzowski has refrained from adopting his pro -Kurdish credentials in order to attract the midfield vote in the elections.

“He responds to change in public positions. The first enthusiasm for the support of war victims disappears, and negative feelings are responsible and not a completely comfortable problem for him.”

Another right -wing right candidate, Grezeshors Brown, was under investigation by the police to destroy the Ukrainian flag from the city hall building during an electoral gathering in April. Brown, who is only 3 %, is filling regularly against what “Ukrainians from Poland” calls.

Last week, the Polish government warned of an “unprecedented attempt” against Russia against interfering in the Polish elections by spreading “wrong information among Polish citizens via the Internet.” Moscow denies all allegations of elections.

Michal Marek, which runs a non -governmental organization that monitors misleading and propaganda in Poland, provides some examples of the distribution of anti -Ukraine materials on social media.

He says: “The main accounts are that the Ukrainians steal the money from the Polish budget, and that the Ukrainians do not respect us, and that they want to steal us and kill us while they are responsible for the war.”

“This information begins on Russian -speaking Telegram channels, and then, we see the same images and the same text just translated by Google Translate. They pay (Article) to Polish Infosphere.”

Mr. Marik connects such misinformation directly with an increase in anti -organism feelings in Poland, and says that an increasing number of columns may be affected by propaganda.

“But we will see the impact only after the elections – what is the percentage of the Poles in voting for the candidates who support Russia publicly.”