While the European Commission is proposing to extend temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine, Warsaw plans to cancel assistance to Ukrainian refugees in 2024, Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said in an interview with PAP.
The move comes after the grain dispute between two countries which has pushed the tight relationship between Kyiv and Warsaw to its lowest point since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Russo-Ukrainian war, day 575. Poland halts arms transfers amid grain dispute with Ukraine
Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Warsaw decided to cease weapons supply for the Ukrainian Army amid tensions over unilateral Polish restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products and Ukraine’s decision to file a complaint to the World Trade Organization over import bans.
Poland stops supplying weapons to Ukraine amid grain dispute
Piotr Müller said that assistance for Ukrainian refugees was temporary saying that the time when “Ukrainians fled their country en masse from the war is already over.”
The spokesman also added that Poland would most likely stop aid “in the first quarter” of 2024.
PAP noted that, according to local surveys, the majority of Poles are against extending financial aid to Ukrainian citizens who are currently staying in Poland.