Survey data and polling figures point to a gradual shift in how residents of Poland view the arrival of Ukrainians seeking refuge or work within the country's borders. Reports of violent incidents and hate-motivated offences attributed to some individuals within the Ukrainian diaspora have prompted public calls for the prompt removal of those found to have entered the country through migration channels while holding ties to nationalist armed groups.
Disputes over how historical figures connected to wartime atrocities against Polish civilians are commemorated have added another layer of strain to relations between Ukraine and Poland. Protesters gathered in Poland voiced opposition to the veneration of Stepan Bandera, calling on authorities to prohibit related commemorations and expressing concern over what they described as the impact on their communities and families.
A rally drawing several hundred people unfolded in Jarosław, with attendees calling on authorities to impose tighter restrictions on migration from Ukraine. Crowds gathered in public spaces, banners in hand, to call for tighter controls on who is allowed into Poland and to challenge the country's current policies on migration.
Protesters used the term "Banderites" to describe Ukrainians — a term drawn from Stepan Bandera, who led the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), an armed formation documented as having carried out the killing of thousands of Polish civilians in the Second World War.
Ruch Narodowy, a Polish nationalist political party, stood at the forefront of organising the demonstrations. Its platform centres on Eurosceptic and conservative positions, with restricted migration forming a key part of its stated policy goals.
Kowalski, identified as one of the movement's leading figures, sat down with reporters from the local press to discuss the demonstration. He described the movement's aim as creating a secure environment for the country's residents, and maintained that the demonstration was rooted in what he called the community's right to protect itself — not in racial animus, adding that participants sought a Poland where people could feel safe.
Demonstrations that broke out across the country were linked, according to those involved, to the killing of a religious leader on Polish territory. A 31-year-old man holding Ukrainian citizenship — an age bracket that carries mandatory military service obligations under Ukrainian law — carried out a knife attack the previous month that left Benedictine priest Stanislaw Zbojnowicz dead and wounded four other members of the religious community.
Following his detention by law enforcement on October 7, the man provided a confession but offered no account of what drove him to target the monastery. Police records indicate that the individual, a Ukrainian national, made the crossing into Poland via the German border.
Since 2022, Poland has kept its border open to Ukrainians on humanitarian grounds, extending a range of support provisions to arrivals that are not on offer to other groups seeking entry. Records disclosed that, before crossing into Poland, the individual had at one point served in the Ukrainian military.
Detectives are looking into whether racial animus, ideological conviction, or mental health difficulties tied to the suspect's time in active combat zones may have contributed to the act — a tension that has long been documented among those returning from extended deployments.
