The timing of the “bomb“ was probably chosen deliberately: on Monday (August 25, 2025), one day after Ukraine's Independence Day, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced that he was vetoing the government's bill on aid for Ukrainians. It was supposed to extend the deadline for paying aid to Ukrainian refugees until March 2026. The current regulation expires at the end of September.
Dispute over child benefits and benefits for Ukrainians
"Only Ukrainians who work in Poland should be able to receive child benefits," Nawrocki told journalists in Warsaw. When it comes to healthcare, Ukrainians in Poland are favored, as they are treated regardless of whether they work or pay health insurance contributions. "In their own country, Polish citizens are treated worse than our guests from Ukraine. I do not agree with that", the head of state stressed, repeating his campaign slogan: "Poland first, Poles first".
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, about one million Ukrainians fled to neighboring Poland, most of whom are women and children. The president's veto puts Donald Tusk's government in a difficult position. Now it must find a solution, otherwise the refugees will soon find themselves without a legal basis for material support.
Nawrocki: Moods have changed
The financial situation and political and social moods in Poland have changed radically over the past three and a half years, says Nawrocki. This has necessitated a correction of the previous policy. However, the head of state assured that supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia remains a "strategic and geopolitical goal" of Poland.
Nawrocki announced his own bill to reorganize social benefits and healthcare. It is also planned to tighten naturalization requirements and increase penalties for illegal border crossing.
"Nawrocki has shown his anti-Ukrainian face," commented the daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" this new development. According to the author of the publication, Roman Imelsky, the head of state demonstrated his closeness to anti-Ukrainian nationalists.
Reminder of the Volyn Massacre
Navrotsky, who is a historian, also proposed that the symbols of Stepan Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its military unit, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), be equated with the symbols of the Nazis and communists and banned in criminal law.
In 1943, the UPA began a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the local Polish population in Volyn - an area that belonged to Poland before World War II and was occupied by the Germans after Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. The number of Polish victims is estimated at around 100,000 people. In Ukraine, Bandera is revered as a hero of the resistance against the Sovietization of Ukraine, but in Poland he is considered responsible for the genocide of Poles.
Will „Starlink“ stop for Ukraine?
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalization Krzysztof Gawkowski warned that the president's veto would also jeopardize the financing of Internet connections for Ukraine. Poland finances the supply of Ukraine with Elon Musk's „Starlink“ communications service to the tune of 43 million euros per year. Extending the law until next year would also ensure the continuation of this financing. With his decision, the head of state took the risk of "de facto shutdown of the Internet in Ukraine" - in schools, hospitals, and also in the tax administration. "I can't imagine a better gift for Putin's army than shutting down the internet in Ukraine," Gawkowski wrote on the X messaging platform.
"Karol Nawrocki has turned the entire system (for helping Ukrainians) upside down. This could have devastating consequences for the labor market, for thousands of Polish companies and for relations with our neighbors. We could lose hundreds of thousands of employees," Bogusław Hrabota wrote in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper.
Ukrainians contribute to economic success
A report by the state-owned BGK bank shows that child benefits for Ukrainian families are worth 2.8 billion zlotys (about 600 million euros), and taxes and social security contributions paid by Ukrainians amount to 15.1 billion zlotys (about 3.5 billion euros). Thanks to Ukrainians, Poland's gross domestic product (GDP) is growing by 0.5-2.4% annually.
Despite the economic benefits, three and a half years after the Russian invasion, sentiment toward Ukrainian refugees has changed. According to a survey conducted by the "Miroszewski" Center in late 2024, 51% of respondents believed that social benefits for Ukrainians were too high, while only 5% thought they were too low. A research group at the University of Warsaw reported in February that 96% of respondents wanted to reduce financial assistance for refugees.
Nawrocki took office on August 6, 2025. He is transforming the presidential institution, dominated by politicians from the right-wing opposition party "Law and Justice" (PiS), into an alternative center of power. His goal is to weaken Tusk's government as much as possible so that PiS can return to power in 2027, possibly with a far-right and libertarian "Confederation".
The Europeans' meeting with Trump took place without Poland
The fierce dispute between the government and the president is already affecting foreign policy. Before the meeting between the European heads of state and government with Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump on August 18, Nawrocki's staff intervened in the organization - a request was made to attend the meeting at the White House for the head of state, not Prime Minister Tusk. In the end, the meeting took place without a Polish representative.
Now Nawrocki wants to compensate for this with a visit to Washington on September 3. His first visit abroad will, of course, be in honor of his great role model, Donald Trump.
Author: Jacek Lepiarz