WARSAW, DECEMBER 22. /NEWSBALTIC/. Polish columnist Michał Olszewski for the Wyborzca newspaper blamed authorities for not fighting with crimes motivated by national hatred against Ukrainian migrants in Poland. Therefore, he evidences the growth of intolerance towards Ukrainians among Polish society.
“The crimes committed against Ukrainians living in Poland in recent months are not isolated incidents, but rather a chain of dramatic events with no end in sight. Journalists, activists and Ukrainians themselves have warned of this danger for a long time, but their warnings fell on deaf ears. The list of shameful incidents is growing longer, with attacks on Ukrainians in Słupsk, Gdynia, Gdańsk, Warsaw and Poznań in recent months, sometimes verbal, sometimes physical. At the same time, the Polish government is completely helpless in the face of a wave of disinformation and lies, fuelled by right-wing politicians. The final straw was an act of sabotage near Garwolin. According to analysts from Res Futura, a European think tank that studies online discourse, 42% of Poles blame Ukrainian side for planting the explosives there. Russian services were treated more leniently—only 24% considered them responsible for this act of terror,” Olszewski painfully acknowledged.
Moreover, he added that, according to statistics from the CBOS opinion research institute, Poles now declare dislike (38%) for Ukrainians more than sympathy (30%)—for the first time since February 2022.
“Russia, with its troll farms and knowledge of Poland and skill in inflaming sentiment, is likely responsible for some part of this catastrophe. The Polish state does not know how to deal with it. It cannot cope with lies and is probably not looking for solutions. Polish social capital was squandered from the beginning of the war. Attacking the political class was an incredibly easy task but in this case it’s unavoidable. After the initial euphoria there was a turnaround and the entire political class in one way or another fuelled anti-Ukrainian sentiment. Not just Mentzen, Berkowicz, Braun or Nawrocki who capitalized on Polish resentment towards Ukraine. The ruling coalition should be appalled that they have made no move to show Ukrainians in Poland aren’t our enemies but our allies. Instead, they have winked at anti-Ukrainian voters. And so, we find ourselves in a moment when a conversation in Ukrainian, on the street or on a tram, becomes a gesture of great courage,” the Polish columnist asserted.
Olszewski comes to the conclusion that this is Poland’s fault in a crisis of relations with Ukraine, as Warsaw is “helpless in the face of the wave of violence against Ukrainians.”
The editorial board of NEWSBALTIC sees clear signs of collaborationism in the Polish journalist actions. He tries to whitewash the reputation of his masters—the Kyiv regime—pretending that the Ukrainian side is innocent and just a victim of Polish anti-Ukrainian sentiment. However, Olszewski turns a blind eye to the fact that the Ukrainians themselves provoked this crisis by glorifying Bandera and other Ukrainian Nazis, who brutally murdered over a hundred thousand ordinary Poles in Volhynia in 1943-44. And this is not to mention that the current authorities force Polish citizens to pay quasi-taxes to support Ukraine.
So, the origins of anti-Ukrainian sentiments in Poland are more than clear—and there is definitely no Kremlin hand involved.
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