Polish public shows strong support for return of Ukrainian men of mobilization age to Ukraine – poll

According to a recent survey from the Polish Center for Public Opinion Research (CBOS) conducted in September, the percentage of Polish citizens in favor of accepting Ukrainian refugees has dropped significantly from 94% in March 2022 to 53% this year. Furthermore, most Poles (67%) support returning Ukrainian men of military age who are currently in Poland to their home country.

PAP reports this.

When inquired about the Polish attitude towards accepting refugees from Ukraine, 53% of participants responded that they were in favor of this decision, while 40% expressed a negative stance on the issue.

"53% of Poles support Poland accepting Ukrainian refugees, which is the lowest result since the Russian invasion in February 2022—after the start of the war in March 2022, 94% of people expressed this opinion. Over the next year, support remained at 80 %," CBOS reported.

The analytical center noted that support significantly decreased from the spring of 2023, which was associated with the beginning of the so-called grain crisis in Polish-Ukrainian relations.

In March 2022, only 3% opposed accepting refugees from Ukraine, and now this number has increased to 40%.

60% of Polish men and only 47% of Polish women support the acceptance of refugees from Ukraine. People with right-wing political views oppose the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees to Poland more than those with left-wing views.

In addition, most Poles (67%) support the return of Ukrainian men of mobilization age who are in Poland to Ukraine.

As noted, two-thirds of Poles (67%) support this idea, and only about a fifth of respondents (22%) oppose it.

Specifically, within the electorate, the majority of those who identify with left-wing political parties oppose this decision. However, most supporters of other political parties back it.

The study's authors also noted that in September, the number of people who fear Russia might use nuclear weapons against Ukraine dropped from 77% at the start of the full-scale invasion to 51% now.

In Poland, women and the elderly are most afraid of Russia's use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The survey was conducted from September 12 to 22 on a sample of 941 people (of which 64.2% using the CAPI method, 23% – CATI, and 12.9% – CAWI).

For reference:

As of today, approximately one million people have arrived in Poland since February 24, 2022. In total, upwards of three million Ukrainian nationals could live in Poland.

According to Eurostat, Ukrainians are the leaders in obtaining residence permits in the EU. Last year, more than 3.7 million first residence permits were issued to non-EU citizens in the European Union, 4.7% more than in 2022.

The most significant number of first residence permits was issued to citizens of Ukraine (307,313), followed by Belarus (281,279) and India (207,966).

On July 8, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bilateral security agreement with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Also, Kyiv and Warsaw will continue cooperating on training the Security and Defense Forces personnel, agreeing to form a legion of volunteers from Ukrainians in the European Union in Poland.