War in Ukraine
Photo. 53rd Mechanized Brigade/Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU)/X
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Polish volunteers who went to fight on Ukraine’s side without obtaining the required permission will not be punished; upon returning to Poland they will be obliged to inform which duties they performed in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Those are the assumptions of a parliamentary bill that the Sejm committees on defence and justice are to consider on Tuesday.
„In the current international context, the participation of a Polish citizen in Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression cannot be seen as a violation of the constitutional duties of loyalty to the Republic of Poland, concern for the common good or — even more so — the duty to defend the country,” the bill’s authors state in the justification.
The draft law on not punishing volunteers defending Ukraine’s freedom and independence provides that „offences and misdemeanours” committed from 24 February 2022 until the end of December 2026, consisting of taking up service in the Ukrainian armed forces without the required permission „shall be forgiven and forgotten”; the recruitment of volunteers to the Ukrainian army will also not be prosecuted. This applies solely to fighting against the Russian aggression in the Armed Forces of Ukraine subordinate to the legitimate authorities recognized by the Republic of Poland. Service in mercenary units and recruitment into them will remain punishable.
Russian aggression „pushed many Polish citizens to actively support Ukraine’s defence by joining the Ukrainian army, in particular the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, generally without completing the formalities required by Polish law,” the authors recalled in the justification. They stressed that the proposed regulation „does not encourage Polish citizens to participate in Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression nor does it introduce any facilitation in this respect.”
A person who, without the consent of the competent authority, took up service in the Ukrainian army will be obliged, in a written statement, to notify the Minister of National Defence of the date and place of commencement and termination of that service immediately upon return to the country. The information contained in the statement will be protected as a secret, covered by the „restricted” classification.
The Minister of Defence shall immediately forward the information to the head of the relevant military recruitment centre and to the public prosecutor’s office. The head of the military recruitment centre will be able to summon the volunteer to obtain detailed information from them about the course of their service in the Ukrainian armed forces.
Under the Act on Homeland Defence, a Polish citizen may enter service in a foreign army or foreign military organization with the consent of the Minister of National Defence. The Act on the Universal Obligation to Defend (which was in force on the day of the full-scale Russian invasion, 24 February 2022) allowed service in a foreign army provided the consent of the Minister of the Interior was obtained after consulting the Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs.