A series of attacks on Ukrainian teenagers in Poland has intensified scrutiny of rising hate crimes, with an unknown woman striking two 13-year-old Ukrainian girls in Legnica on 19 July 2026 in what authorities suspect was motivated by national origin. Days earlier, two men in Poznan were detained for beating a 60-year-old Polish man who intervened to defend a Ukrainian boy, and in Bielsko-Biala a 54-year-old man was charged after verbally abusing Ukrainian teenagers on a bus.
The violence comes as hate crimes reported by Ukrainians in Poland have climbed steeply: there were 180 complaints in the first half of 2026, a rise of more than 30 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. Overall hate-crime offences in Poland grew from 760 in 2024 to 1,200 in 2025.
Diplomatic tensions have also risen after Poland revoked the White Eagle Order from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in June, following his decision to name an army unit after the wartime Ukrainian Insurgent Army.