Polish police record sharp increase in bias-motivated attacks on Ukrainians
Crimes against Ukrainians in Poland have risen sharply for a third year, according to national police figures shared with the Onet news portal.
Police recorded 543 bias-motivated crimes of all types between Jan. 1 and July 31, 41% more than in the same period of 2024 (384), Police Commissioner Wioletta Szubska of the Press and Information Department of the Police Headquarters in Poland told Onet, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.
Incidents specifically targeting Ukrainians have climbed each year since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Based on current trends, police expect a new annual record.
Assaults causing minor or moderate bodily harm against Ukrainians also rose with 142 in 2022, 175 in 2023, and 204 in 2024, a 43% increase in two years.
In the first eight months of 2025, police logged 118 such attacks.
The offense carries a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment.
Poland’s criminal code does not define “hate crime,” Szubska noted.
In practice, law enforcement bodies use the definition of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the human rights institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): offenses where a perpetrator selects a victim because of prejudice (e.g., xenophobia, racism, religious intolerance).
“Hate crimes are a manifestation of discrimination and a violation of fundamental human rights,” she said.
Sociologist Prof. Przemyslaw Sadura from the University of Warsaw told Onet the post-invasion “carnival” of solidarity in 2022 gave way to anxieties about welfare, services, and jobs.
“Stories about Ukrainians ‘taking places’ in doctors’ or kindergarten queues or unfairly collecting benefits speak to the fragility of our welfare state,” he said.
“In services especially, fear of job loss combines with robotization—and with a supply of desperate, cheaper labor.”
Poland has hosted over a million Ukrainians since 2022.
Police have not published a full nationality breakdown for 2025 to date. Officials say Ukrainians—by far the largest foreign community in Poland—remain the most frequent targets in both absolute numbers and growth.
Incidents involving other groups, including Belarusians, Russians, and migrants from the Middle East and Africa, are reported by police and non-governmental organizations, but at much lower totals than those recorded against Ukrainians in recent years.
With bias-motivated crime rising overall in 2025 and assaults against Ukrainians trending to a record, advocates are urging clearer legal definitions, better victim support, and consistent public messaging against hate.
