Poles still eager to help Ukrainians, but not unconditionally, poll shows

The vast majority of Poles are still willing to help Ukrainians but not as decisively and as unconditionally as a year earlier, according to new research published by newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

The survey carried out at the turn of May and June by the research LAB of the University of Warsaw and the University of Economics and Humanities in Warsaw shows that 85 percent of respondents still want to help refugees from Ukraine.

But, according to Dr Robert Staniszewski, the survey’s project manager, their eagerness to help has declined.

"We are mostly against providing free accommodation and food for Ukrainian refugees, and even oppose them settling in Poland after the war," he is quoted by the paper as saying. "The decrease in support applies to virtually all forms of assistance for Ukrainians, except for education."

Rzeczpospolita wrote: "In just five months, the group of those who decided that Poland should help Ukraine in the war has shrunk from 62 to 42 percent. Fewer Poles, currently 35 percent, evaluate as definitely positive the assistance that Poland has provided to Ukraine while in January this figure was 47 percent of respondents."

The study was carried out as part of the mixed mode procedure on a sample of 584 people aged 16-65 between May 23 and June 6 this year.