Less than half of Poles support continued military aid to Ukraine, survey shows
The number of Poles backing continued military assistance to Kyiv dropped from 54% to 49% over the course of 2024, according to a survey commissioned by the Mieroszewski Center in Poland and published on Feb. 4.
While in February 2024, 36% of respondents said "rather yes" and 18% "definitely yes" to a question of continued military support, the numbers went to 33% and 16% by December, respectively, according to the research carried out by the ARC Rynek i Opinia group.
In turn, 11% said "no" and 15% leaned toward "no" in February 2024. These numbers went up to 16% and 19% in December.
Poland has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022, providing extensive military, humanitarian, and political assistance.
The Polish-Ukrainian relations have been nevertheless strained in the past few years by resurgent historical grievances and trade disputes.
Other statistics in the survey also show a mild deterioration of Polish-Ukrainian relations. The number of Poles in favor of continued assistance to Ukrainian refugees went from 42% to 40%, while those in opposition increased in numbers from 33% to 37%.
According to an earlier survey from the start of the full-scale war, 94% of Poles supported aiding Ukrainian refugees in March 2022.
Almost 1 million Ukrainian refugees are registered in Poland as of January 2025, according to U.N. data, making it second only to Germany in terms of numbers.
The survey also shows that the number of Poles with negative attitudes toward Ukrainians went from 27% to 30%, while those with positive attitudes dropped by two percentage points to 23%.
These figures are largely in line with earlier surveys in Poland and other countries supporting Ukraine, which also show a steady decrease in support for the Ukrainian military effort and refugees.
Several Western leaders have warned against the growing fatigue as the full-scale war nears its third anniversary and urged steady resolve in supporting Kyiv.
