‘Return to Ukraine’: Battle refugees complain of abuse in Poland

Svitlana says her daughter cherished her college in Poland.

“Even after we moved to a different space, she did not need to change colleges,” says the 31-year-old Ukrainian mom. “She preferred it a lot. There was no bullying.”

Now she says the ambiance on the college – and in Poland general – has modified.

“Two weeks in the past, she got here dwelling and stated “One boy stated to me immediately, ‘Return to Ukraine’.” Svitlana was astonished.

She is certainly one of dozens of Ukrainians dwelling in Poland who’ve instructed the BBC that anti-Ukrainian sentiment has risen significantly in current months.

Many described experiencing abuse on public transport, bullying in colleges and xenophobic materials on-line.

A polarising presidential election marketing campaign has added to the strain, with the primary spherical of voting going down on Sunday.

The day after Svitlana’s daughter was instructed to return to Ukraine, the abuse grew to become even worse.

“Women from the category above began complaining about her talking Ukrainian. Then they pretended to fall to the bottom shouting ‘Missile! Get down!’ and laughing,” Svitlana says. “She got here dwelling crying.”

A Russian missile had slammed into Svitlana’s hometown in Ukraine days earlier than, killing scores of civilians, together with youngsters. Her daughter was traumatised.

Svitlana – not her actual title didn’t need to be recognized as she fears reprisals. She confirmed us screenshots of messages with college workers the place she complains about her daughter’s remedy.

She stated she had observed attitudes altering in direction of Ukrainians elsewhere, too: “At work, many individuals have been saying Ukrainians come right here and behave badly. And my Ukrainian associates say they need to go dwelling as a result of Polish folks do not settle for us. It is scary to dwell right here now.”

In accordance with authorities statistics, at the least 2.5 million Ukrainians dwell in Poland, comprising nearly 7% of the overall inhabitants of Poland.

When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, there was an outpouring of compassion from Poles. “It was wonderful. Daily folks had been calling, asking, ‘How can we assist?'” says activist Natalia Panchenko, head of the Warsaw-based ‘Stand with Ukraine’ Basis.

“A few of them organised humanitarian convoys or introduced refugees right here. They gave their homes, meals, all the pieces they’ve – and their hearts, too.”

Three years later, Natalia says she believes nearly all of Poles nonetheless assist Ukraine. However some do not – and her organisation has observed an upsurge of anti-Ukrainian on-line abuse that started a number of months in the past.

“Then it began to come back to actual life,” she says. “Not too long ago, we now have increasingly more of those sorts of conditions… xenophobic [abuse] of individuals working in retailers or motels simply because they converse with a Ukrainian accent.”

Natalia says that many Ukrainian refugees are traumatised. “These teams of girls and youngsters are in Poland due to the battle, fairly often their family members are on the entrance line, in captivity or lifeless… and that is the group of individuals being focused.”

Analysis means that Poland’s public opinion of Ukrainians is certainly worsening. In accordance with a March 2025 ballot by the revered CBOS Centre, simply 50% of Poles are in favour of accepting Ukrainian refugees, a fall of seven proportion factors in 4 months. Two years in the past, the determine was 81%.

Round 1,000,000 Ukrainians are formally registered as having arrived after the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Poland spends 4.2% of its GDP on Ukrainian refugees.

Ukraine has turn out to be a hot-button political concern in Poland’s essential presidential election marketing campaign.

Far-right populist Slawomir Mentzen, at the moment polling third, is virulently anti-Ukrainian and helps an “settlement” with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

In second place is conservative Karol Nawrocki, who opposes EU and Nato membership for Ukraine and monetary help for refugees, however helps the battle effort.

Probably the most pro-Ukraine candidate is front-runner Rafal Trzaskowski from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition, though even he has promised a discount in social welfare for Ukrainians.

Trzaskowski has avoided espousing his pro-Ukrainian credentials with a purpose to entice the centrist vote within the elections, says political analyst Marcin Zaborowski.

“He is responding to the change in public attitudes. The preliminary enthusiasm for supporting battle victims is disappearing, unfavourable sentiments are taking up and it is not a wholly snug concern for him.”

One other far-right candidate, Grzegorz Braun, is below investigation by police for tearing down a Ukrainian flag from a metropolis corridor constructing throughout an election rally in April. Braun, who’s polling at simply 3%, commonly fulminates towards what he calls the “Ukrainisation of Poland”.

Final week, the Polish authorities warned of an “unprecedented try” by Russia to intrude within the Polish elections by spreading “false data amongst Polish residents on-line”. Moscow denies all allegations of election interference.

Michal Marek, who runs an NGO that displays disinformation and propaganda in Poland, gives some examples of the anti-Ukraine materials being circulated on social media.

“The principle narratives are that Ukrainians are stealing cash from the Polish finances, that Ukrainians don’t respect us, that they need to rob and kill us and are chargeable for the battle,” he says.

“This data begins in Russian-speaking Telegram channels, and, after that, we see the identical photographs and the identical textual content simply translated by Google Translate. And they’re pushing [the material] into the Polish infosphere.”

Mr Marek hyperlinks such disinformation straight with the rise in anti-Ukraine sentiment in Poland, and says an rising variety of Poles have gotten influenced by propaganda.

“However we are going to solely see the impact after the election – what proportion of Poles need to vote for brazenly pro-Russian candidates.”