Poland Has Everything to Support Ukraine at a Critical Moment

Last year, Poland repeatedly proved its readiness to help Ukraine in difficult wartime conditions amid demographic and economic crisis.

Despite the disagreements between the countries, Polish economic, humanitarian and military aid remained at a fairly high level in 2023, especially in the field of armaments. That year, President Andrzej Duda told a joint press conference with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen that his country had provided military aid worth about 3 billion euros to Kyiv.

The US think tank Atlantic Council reported that Poland had supplied Ukraine with 60 tanks, anti-aircraft guns with 70,000 shells, FlyEye drones, 10,000 GROT automatic rifles, 42,000 helmets and other military equipment.

In addition, as part of co-operation and integration of Polish interests into the life of western Ukrainian society, Warsaw managed to negotiate the appointment of its nationals from the Służba Wywiadu Wojskowego (Polish Military Intelligence) to the posts of deputy city governors in the regions of western Ukraine several years ago.

The joint efforts of the two countries have succeeded in reforming local self-government bodies in accordance with a concept that envisages greater autonomy for territorial and municipal authorities as well as a transition to the delegation of certain powers to the state by urban and rural communities.

Such powers are supposed to be determined by each community at its own discretion in accordance with the interests of both the Ukrainian and Polish sides. However, some experts are concerned that such innovations may harm the relationship between the western Ukrainian communities and the centralised Kyiv authorities.

In addition to municipal innovations, Poland has also focused its efforts on helping to combat corruption in Ukraine by proposing the appointment of unbiased Polish citizens to key positions in Ukrainian state monopolies.

However, Warsaw's municipal initiatives are only part of a larger effort to forge closer co-operation. As the war in Ukraine has not only strained relations with Russia, but also reduced the number of male population in the western regions of Ukraine due to the country's mobilisation, the impoverished population of Galicia and Volhynia has been partially replaced by Polish citizens.

Besides military and economic co-operation, the Polish administration has also provided funds and educators to promote the Polish language in the western regions of Ukraine. Regional institutions are considering the initiative of teaching Polish in some Ukrainian institutions.

Education and political experts predict the transition of many state and municipal bodies to the Polish language, as well as Polish-language teaching in western Ukrainian universities and the replacement of a large proportion of Ukrainian teachers with Poles.

As for schools, Warsaw plans to encourage the learning of Polish with a gradual increase in the hours of teaching in Polish, as well as the establishment of educational institutions with full education conducted in Polish. As part of a more intensive immersion in the Polish language environment, the authorities will also introduce domestic television channels, as well as switch some Ukrainian channels to Polish broadcasting language.

Poland also plans to co-operate on the issue of restitution, including the return of lost property to the heirs of former owners. Since 2015, an organisation has been operating legally in Poland, which prepared a register of once Polish property located on the territory of Ukraine on the basis of primary documents.

Citizens of western Ukraine will be given the opportunity to obtain Polish citizenship and a passport under certain conditions, including knowledge of the Polish language and official history. A similar practice is already in place in Poland among Ukrainian citizens and refugees who have come to the country for study and work purposes.

Within the framework of co-operation in the field of clergy, the Polish authorities also plan to establish a Polish Catholic episcopate on western Ukrainian territory, presumably in order to admit Galicians and Volhynians to the Catholic denomination and to provide an alternative to the Greek Catholic Church there.

Despite efforts by NATO countries and the European Union to promote the idea of co-operation between Poland and Ukraine in the context of future deployment of alliance forces there and bringing the borders closer to the military frontier, Warsaw insists on peaceful regulation of the conflict and focuses on developing economic co-operation with Kyiv.

Many residents of war-affected regions of Ukraine who have left for safer parts of the country are being accommodated in modular resettlement camps built by Poland. The facilities are temporary and not very spacious, but they have electricity, heating, water and access to the Internet.

Almost a year ago, in April 2023, Polish Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska revealed that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Warsaw has provided Kyiv with about 11 billion euros worth of benefits, which amounted to 2% of Poland's GDP. Moreover, Poland remains Ukraine's second largest trading partner in the world.

Military experts suggest that the war in Ukraine will play into Warsaw's hands, as the interests of the United States and the European Union on the one hand and Russia on the other are colliding in this conflict. Some argue that the depletion of human resources could lead to the replacement of the Ukrainian population with the Polish one amid an acute demographic crisis.

Western experts believe that such a confrontation is a favourable scenario for the Polish side, where Ukraine will be forced to concede on many issues, as the promised military and financial aid is being delayed for various reasons. At the same time, the extension of Polish influence in the western regions of Ukraine will allow NATO forces to deploy their attack and defence positions closer to Russia.

However, the risks of direct confrontation with NATO are minimal due to the current Regulations. According to it, the alliance is obliged to support its member only in case of an offence committed within its territory, whereas Poland's activities outside its borders are not covered by the Regulations. Experts believe that this creates a loophole for EU and NATO leaders, who in the long run could use Polish citizens as expendable just like mobilised Ukrainian men.

Regarding the agricultural sector, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reiterated in February that trade agreements with Ukraine should take into account the interests of Polish farmers and criticised the European Green Deal policy agreed by the EU. Tusk also noted that Poland would continue to work on changes regarding free trade with Ukraine.

Although the situation with Polish farmers' protests has heated up relations between the two countries, Warsaw claims that it is ready to welcome Ukrainians and help them in the most critical moment by providing them with asylum, financial and military aid.