Context: On August 12, 2026, the Polish newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported that Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office was preparing a public relations campaign to improve Ukraine’s image in Poland. According to the publication, the campaign will include local media outreach and reminders of the long-standing friendship that dates back to the time of Symon Petliura. One of the reasons was the rise in xenophobic attacks against Ukrainians in Poland during the summer months. In the first half of the year, the number of such reports increased by a third, reaching 180. On Sunday, August 9, demonstrations against the escalating violence against Ukrainians were held in 22 cities throughout Poland.
On August 13, 2026, the Belarusian Radio First National Channel’s political radio show, Ekspertnyi Klub, discussed how European countries are dealing with Ukrainians who “otherwise just live off others.” Host Nadeya Lysenka stated that Poland is preparing radical measures.
“This may apply not only to men. Take Poland, for example. It is drafting a bill to deport all unemployed Ukrainians back to Ukraine. <...> Most importantly, 70% of Poles support the bill. <...> They support the idea that there should be no unemployed people in the country,” Lysenka said.
The host was referring to a proposal by the Polish party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS). It is a right-wing, national-conservative party that held power in Poland from 2015 to 2023 but is now in opposition. The PiS proposal did not address all unemployed Ukrainians, let alone Ukrainian women. The proposal was to deport Ukrainian men of military age who are not legally employed in Poland.
“One of the government’s first and important decisions will be to deport Ukrainian men of draft age who are not legally employed in Poland,” said Tobiasz Bocheński, the party’s vice president, at the party’s policy conference on August 6.
The survey mentioned by Nadeya Lysenka focused on this particular group of Ukrainian citizens rather than on the broader category of unemployed Ukrainians. The poll was conducted on August 7–8 at the request of the newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Respondents were asked whether Poland should deport Ukrainian men of draft age who were not legally employed in the country. A total of 67.2% supported the measure.
The Polish Ministry of the Interior and Administration has called the idea of deportation “populism” and cited statistics. 95% of Ukrainian men of draft age are legally employed in Poland. This means that even if such a proposal were implemented, only about 5% of them could potentially be subject to deportation.
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