Poles and Ukrainians - real camaraderie in action

Ukrainians have no doubt that they, as a country and as a society, must respond to the unprecedented assistance provided by Poland and the Polish people since February 24.

As an example, we looked at the Polish law passed on March 12, 2022 "On assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the country’s territory." Once the Ukrainian law enters into force, Polish people will be able to legally stay in Ukraine for 18 months. Poles have received the right to work and the opportunity to run businesses, they can study in educational institutions, and have access to medical services in Ukraine on the same terms as Ukrainians themselves. If they need social assistance (for example if they lose their job), they will be eligible to receive the same support as Ukrainian citizens. 

Polish citizens who start working in Ukraine will be free to work for 18 months before they have to apply for a work permit, which they used to need to start work in the country. A temporary residence permit will still be required to stay in Ukraine, but you don’t need a visa to get one, and the permit itself can have a validity of up to 3 years, rather than the one year previously.

The content of the draft law is not ideal. Some decisions still need additional clarification by executive acts, and there may be issues of interpretation in other areas. In particular, with regard to people who work in the healthcare sector, when does the 18-month countdown period begin, the time the law enters into force or the time they cross the border into Ukraine? For now, this may seem like a theoretical problem, because Ukraine is in a state of war and crowds of Poles are not storming our embassy. However, it will have to be solved sometime.

Polish citizens received special status in Ukraine, in response to the help that the Poles provided to millions of our compatriots - mainly women, children, and the elderly. And it is precisely this aspect that should be emphasized above all. It is difficult to find a greater testimony to human solidarity and understanding of the suffering of Ukrainian people, than this. A significant proportion of our refugees have now returned to Ukraine, but new ones continue to arrive in Poland, since the Russian aggressor is trying to break our Ukrainian will to fight their terror against the civilian population. They will not succeed, because heroic Ukrainian soldiers can calmly fight at the front, knowing that their families are no longer in danger. A sincere vote of thanks to the Polish people for this!

The universality of assistance is especially important for us. According to sociological surveys, 80% of Poles are involved in helping Ukrainians in various forms, meaning that support comes from hundreds of thousands of families, thousands of volunteers, local self-government bodies, as well as administrative state structures. Someone succinctly summed up this phenomenon in the saying: "The Russians, who called themselves our "brothers", attacked our land. The real brothers turned out to be the Poles, who give shelter to millions of Ukrainian women and children".

I would like to draw attention to three political issues in which the "Polish" law puts a symbolic dot over the "i". The first is the failure of Russia's plans to cause a refugee crisis in Europe that is incomparably greater than that of 2015. Since the beginning of the war, more than 6.7 million people left for other European countries, of which 3 million have already returned to Ukraine. The intensity of departures was the highest at the beginning of the war, and from that moment on, a huge challenge faced our closer and more distant neighbors.

The initial chaos was overcome, and this was and is a great victory over Putin. First of all, this happened thanks to the Poles, who "infected" other peoples with their example. As a result, the EU not only did not "fall to its knees", but also showed great determination and solidarity in helping Ukraine. And not only with regard to Ukrainian refugees, but also when it comes to the provision of political, financial, and logistical support for the survival of the Ukrainian state and economy.

The EU once again proved that the forecasts regarding its deep crisis and "decay" are greatly exaggerated. As a community of states, the EU has learned the lessons of the past, when it made its energy security dependent on Russia, a colonial and imperialist country that causes wars, exterminates conquered nations and has been seeking to destroy the EU and NATO for years. The price we will all pay for previous energy policies is huge – rising fuel and energy prices, inflation, as well as a harsh winter.

However, I have no doubt that the EU and Ukraine will also overcome this crisis, although it will be very difficult for us. Because security, freedom, and democracy have their price. We must pay this price in order to win the battle with the aggressor and prevent the danger of a repeated attack in the future. When we stand united in solidarity, then autocracy has no chance of defeating free societies.

The second aspect is the defeat of the Kremlin's plans to prevent Ukraine’s successful integration into the EU. Recently, Ukraine received the status of a candidate country for EU membership. There is a lot of work ahead to meet the necessary criteria and become a fully-fledged member of the community. In this regard, adopting laws that guarantee Ukrainian citizens in EU countries, and especially in Poland, special status, brings this goal closer. As does the exemption of Ukrainian goods from EU import duties for one year. The solutions are temporary and limited in nature, but additionally make the process of Ukrainian integration with the EU inevitable. The same can be said about the "Polish" law.

The third issue is the Ukrainian-Polish reconciliation that is currently underway. It is a truly profound process, since it involves accepting people from another nation into their homes and providing them with help - all utterly selflessly. It definitely does not cancel the past, especially the dramatic first half of the 20th century, and we must remember everything and everyone, especially the peaceful victims. I hope that after these hostilities end, the Ukrainian authorities will move to address the remaining problems, including the exhumation of the Polish victims and the issue of commemoration.

We live in a period of changing historical eras, but some things remain timeless, like the motto of the Poles who fought for their freedom in the 19th century: "For your freedom and ours". Today, Ukrainian freedom also means the freedom of Poland and our other neighbors.