On May 30, the last day of the Polish presidential campaign, Karol Nawrocki laid flowers on a long-controversial monument.

The 14-meter-high statue commemorating the Volhynian massacre depicts a crowned eagle, a symbol of Poland, whose breasts are cut from their breasts. In that cross, a child's body is pierced onto a trident, representing the Ukrainian badge "Tryzub".

The statue was revealed in Domostawa in July 2024 that the village is located in a village in southeastern Poland, close to the Ukrainian border. It commemorates the ethnic cleansing of the Poles by the Ukrainian rebels between 1943 and 1945 in the Polish-Ukrainian border area. Although statistics vary, between 40,000 and 100,000 people were assumed to be killed in the Holocaust.

However, before Domostawa accepted the monument, several cities including Rzeszow, Torun and Stalowa Wola refused to host it due to the sculptor's vision, lest damage relations with Ukraine.

For Nawrocki, who was formerly the head of the National Institute of Memorial, the scene was like the end of his presidential bid.

"The Volini massacre is a cruel crime. The way to murder pole is cruel. It is a crime in neighboring countries because neighbors murder neighbors. It is also robbery because Ukrainian nationalists often rob neighbors."

"We have the right to talk about it. I have the right to talk about it as the president of the National Institute of Memorial Studies and I will be the right to be President of Poland after June 1."

Dear President @zelenskyyuanthank you for your information. I look forward to counting our country’s partnerships based on mutual respect and understanding. I believe this requires not only good dialogue, but also the historical problem of overdue payments. Poland has always been Ukraine...

-Karol Nawrocki (@nawrockikn) June 3, 2025

Nationalist-elected President-General Nawrocki said in a successful campaign that Poles should prioritize lineups for doctor appointments and called for restrictions on Ukrainians' access to benefits. He also said his opposition to joining NATO and the EU Ukraine, which contrasts with Poland’s traditional support stance as Kiev fights Russian troops.

Navoloki believes that Warsaw's support should rely on Ukraine's amendment to the Volinian Holocaust, which may include excavating Polish victims.

After Russia began a full-scale invasion in early 2022, under the law and justice rule that supported Navoroki, it accepted more than one million Ukrainian refugees and supported Ukraine with other European allies in Kiev, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as Germany, such as

With Poland becoming the loudest pro-Ukrainian voice in the EU and NATO, thousands of Poles have received Ukrainians at home.

But while PIS has a long history in support of Ukraine throughout the revolution in 2004 and 2014, and with the Russian attacks, opposition to Ukraine is now continuing.

"Play the Anti-Ukrainian Card"

In the first round of the presidential election, 51% of Bohr voted for the candidates, who touted candidates who were inconsistent with Ukraine's ambitions. Even the liberal candidate for the Citizen Platform, Rafal Trzaskowski suggested that Ukrainians who do not pay taxes should deprive children of their welfare.

According to a study by the Mieroszewski Center, 83% of Ukrainians have positive views on Poles in 2022, but by November 2024, that number has dropped to 41%.

In January 2025, 51% of Poles said Ukrainian refugees received too much support. Almost half of the respondents said difficult historical issues should be addressed to improve Polish-Ukrainian relations.

A study published by the CBO in February 2025 found that only 30% of Poles' attitudes toward Ukrainians fell from 51% in 2023, while negative attitudes toward Ukrainian neighbors rose from 17% in 2023.

"I think Poland should continue to support Ukraine, but I am disappointed with the status of the Ukrainian state. Ukraine would not be able to survive if it weren't for Poland's strong and decisive reaction at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, which encouraged European support.

"The Ukrainians never expressed remorse for the Volinia Holocaust. I found that characters like Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, who were responsible for the Pors Holocaust during World War II, were considered national heroes of Ukraine."

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry believes that the decision of the Republic of Poland's Congress will establish July 11 as a day of memory to target victims of the so-called "genocide" organized by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainians. pic.twitter.com/c5nu1hpadl

- MFA in Ukraine🇺🇦 (@mfa_ukraine) June 5, 2025

Michal's views are not uncommon.

At the same time, resentment against Ukrainian refugees has expanded.

"In a few weeks, Poland became a country that was no longer a culturally unified country. For many Poles who have no experience in diversity, suddenly, their neighbors spoke a different language, and the fact that they became unacceptable."

He said that at present, more than 50% of Poles declared solidarity with Ukrainian refugees, down from 90% in 2022, citing the group's voting data.

"One of the reasons for the decline in support for Ukrainians is that propaganda and conspiracy theories from the right are spreading on social media. We have been monitoring the situation since the beginning of the war, and it is clear that in the long run, the Kazakhs playing anti-Ukrainian will bring anti-Ukrainian political benefits. This is what happened in this movement."

Ukrainian commentator Igor Krawetz, who has lived in Poland for nearly 20 years, said he was surprised by the speed of the transition. He said two years ago, open hostility to Ukrainians was considered inappropriate, even in the context of rights.

"Polish anti-Ukrainian xenophobia is no longer limited to the space where Ukrainian immigrants compete with Poles, such as low-skilled jobs. Now xenophobia is also expressed by the middle class, who see Ukrainians seeing Ukrainians transfer businesses to Warsaw, no longer need expensive apartments and no longer need poor people," he added. ”

The shift brought back Clauvitz's memories.

The unity between Poland and Ukraine ended in 2004 with disillusionment and mutual accusations, when Poles supported Ukraine's Orange Revolution and the 2014 European Revolution.

"The Poles have become accustomed to seeing Ukraine's misfortune as their own pain. The romantic wave of brother support has lasted for months during the crisis for the past 20 years and always followed by complaints: 'I helped you in 2022, but you still have no "thing" to win the war," Krawetz said.

"I survived the first and second waves with Ukraine. I will survive the last one, too. It always comes back to the full circle."