Social media buzzes with accusations. Ukrainian women are stealing Polish husbands, taking Polish jobs, clogging the health care system. The 2025 presidential election campaign was shaped by the Ukrainian issue. After right-wing candidate Karol Nawrocki won, legislation was enacted curbing refugees’ rights. In September 2025, President Nawrocki announced that he wouldn’t sign any new laws that prolong special residency rights for Ukrainians fleeing the war, such as simplified access to the labor market and automatic legal stay, which have
been in place since the beginning of the war. Those special rights expired on March 5, 2026. Other politicians, even more to the right, accused Ukrainians of bringing "AIDS, gangsters, and prostitutes" into Poland. Between 2023 and 2025, hate crimes against Ukrainians went up 49 percent. Poles have burned Ukrainian flags and cars. "It was terrifying," said Uliana Ilnitska, a member of the boxing group.
Meanwhile, despite several rounds of peace talks, the war in Ukraine continues. Four years into the invasion, Russia controls about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory. Drones and missiles continue falling on Ukrainian cities and killing civilians. And although the influx has slowed, refugees keep seeking shelter in Poland. For the nearly one million Ukrainian refugees who are there and for those who continue to arrive, the inhospitable social climate means they must fight an uphill battle to rebuild their lives in their new home. Their ongoing struggles make it particularly important to ask how things went so awry. What is to blame for the worsening attitudes? Is there any way to right what went wrong?
