Polish president vetoes law extending financial aid for Ukrainian refugees

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a bill extending benefits to Ukrainian refugees previously adopted by the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, Reuters reported on Monday.

The bill had foreseen extending social benefits and temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees until March 2026. If the law does not now come into force, the benefits Ukrainian refugees in Poland are currently entitled to will cease on 30 September.

Nawrocki said the existing law on assistance to Ukrainian refugees should be adjusted, most notably proposing that only working Ukrainians should continue to receive child benefits and free medical care, Reuters continued.

The president also announced that he would be presenting his own draft law on migration policy, including a proposal to extend the required period of continuous residence from the point of obtaining permanent leave to remain in the country from three to 10 years to then be entitled to Polish citizenship.

Nawrocki also proposed banning the promotion of Stepan Bandera, the Ukrainian nationalist leader who fought both Nazi and Soviet forces during WWII, and his Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). “I believe this bill should clearly address Bandera and equate the Bandera symbol in the criminal code with symbols corresponding to … Nazism, and Soviet communism,” Nawrocki said.

Though many Ukrainians regard Bandera as a hero in Kyiv’s struggle for independence from Moscow, many Poles associate Bandera with the UPA, which Warsaw says was responsible for the mass killing of Polish civilians in between 1943 and 1944, Reuters said.