the rise in anti-Ukrainian sentiment<\/a>, xenophobia and hate speech. There is no information in open sources regarding the results of the vote, the date of the meeting or the initiators of the document.<\/p>\nPublic sentiment and the debate over aid<\/h2>\n
Sopot\u2019s decision came at a time of a marked shift in attitudes towards accepting Ukrainian refugees. According to a CBOS poll published in January 2026, 48% of respondents supported their admission, whilst 46% were against it. At the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, this level of support stood at 94%.<\/p>\n
At the same time, these figures do not provide grounds for equating a critical attitude towards the rules on social assistance with xenophobia. In a CBOS survey conducted in the autumn of 2025, 58% of Poles supported the provision of child benefits and free healthcare to Ukrainians who work and pay taxes; a further 25% linked this to refugee status.<\/p>\n
The debate is also taking place against the backdrop of changes to the rules on state support. With effect from 5 March 2026, Poland has revised some of the special arrangements for Ukrainian citizens. Individuals with a PESEL UKR number may remain in the country legally until 4 March 2027.<\/p>\n
Integration as a local policy<\/h2>\n
The resolution can be viewed in the context of Sopot\u2019s existing practices regarding Ukrainian residents. The city funds integration language classes for children from Ukraine aged between 6 and 10 who live in the city; the project is being implemented in collaboration with civil society organisations.<\/p>\n
Sopot also maintains a twinning partnership with Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. In 2024, the city hosted a delegation from its partner city to exchange expertise on rehabilitation infrastructure and attracting external funding.<\/p>\n
The existence of such programmes and contacts indicates that the resolution is consistent with previous local initiatives relating to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The high number of Ukrainians and the risk of hostile narratives<\/h2>\n
As at 31 May 2026, 967,505 people who had fled Ukraine due to the war were granted temporary protection in Poland. This accounted for 22.1% of all recipients of this status in the European Union.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the issue of hate speech extends beyond the Polish-Ukrainian context. In a May survey commissioned by the Polish National Broadcasting Council, 78% respondents reported that they had personally encountered it in the media, whilst 93% described online hate speech as a significant social problem.<\/p>\n
According to a report by the Humanitarian Observatory, nearly 327,000 anti-Ukrainian posts were identified in the Polish-language online space by 2024. This figure reflects the scale of online content, rather than the number of crimes or attacks. In this context, Sopot\u2019s statement may be a local political signal against the generalisation of social and migration disputes to apply to an entire community.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sopot City Council was the first in Poland to adopt a resolution against anti-Ukrainian sentiment, xenophobia and hate speech.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":25598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u041c\u0456\u0441\u044c\u043a\u0430 \u0440\u0430\u0434\u0430 \u0421\u043e\u043f\u043e\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0448\u043e\u044e \u0432 \u041f\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0449\u0456 \u0443\u0445\u0432\u0430\u043b\u0438\u043b\u0430 \u0440\u0435\u0437\u043e\u043b\u044e\u0446\u0456\u044e \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0442\u0438 \u0430\u043d\u0442\u0438\u0443\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0441\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0457\u0432, \u043a\u0441\u0435\u043d\u043e\u0444\u043e\u0431\u0456\u0457 \u0442\u0430 \u043c\u043e\u0432\u0438 \u043d\u0435\u043d\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0456.","rank_math_title":"\u0420\u0435\u0437\u043e\u043b\u044e\u0446\u0456\u044f \u0421\u043e\u043f\u043e\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u0442\u0438 \u0430\u043d\u0442\u0438\u0443\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0441\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0445 \u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0457\u0432 \u0443 \u041f\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0449\u0456","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0421\u043e\u043f\u043e\u0442","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[805624],"class_list":["post-25599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-805624"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25600,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25599\/revisions\/25600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}