Poland<\/a> pays for Ukraine to use Starlink, which provides crucial internet connectivity to the country and its military as they try to push back invading Russian forces.<\/p>\nRight-wing Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Monday vetoed a bill extending state financial support provided to Ukrainian refugees and unveiled plans to limit their future access to child benefits and healthcare.<\/p>\n
However, Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the vetoed legislation also provided the legal basis for providing Starlink to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the end of Starlink internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine as it wages war,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Centrist Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised the veto. But his government does not have the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to overcome the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot punish people for losing their job \u2013 particularly not innocent children. This is the ABC of human decency,\u201d Labour Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Gawkowski stressed that Nawrocki\u2019s veto jeopardised Ukraine\u2019s use of Starlink.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to continue paying for internet by satellite for Ukraine. Unfortunately, this disastrous decision by the president greatly complicates things, and we will have to inform our partners that this support will finish at the end of September,\u201d he told the PAP news agency.<\/p>\n
Nawrocki\u2019s spokesperson, however, told the Reuters news agency that the basis for paying for Starlink could still be restored if parliament adopts a bill proposed by the president by the end of next month.<\/p>\n
Since Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around one million refugees have settled in neighbouring Poland. Most of them are women and children.<\/p>\n
Poland is a key supporter of Ukraine and a major transit route for Western aid, but public attitudes towards Ukrainians have hardened.<\/p>\n
Nawrocki, a staunch nationalist, had promised to cut social welfare benefits for Ukrainians during the campaign ahead of his election victory on June 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not change my mind, and I think that [this aid] should be limited only to Ukrainians who are committed to working in Poland,\u201d Nawrocki, who took office this month, told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n
Nawrocki also said Ukrainians who do not work in Poland should not be allowed to receive free medical treatment, as they do now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis puts us in a situation in which Polish citizens, in their own country, are less well treated than our Ukrainian guests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gawkowski said that Poland spent 77 million euros ($90m) between 2022 and 2024 to buy and subscribe to Starlink systems for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
A Ukrainian diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv was analysing the possible impact of the move on Ukrainians in Poland, adding they believed \u201ctheir rights will be protected no less than in other EU countries\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian refugees are currently eligible to receive the monthly family benefit of 800 zlotys ($218) per child if their children attend Polish schools. Other EU countries, such as Germany, have also proposed cutting benefits recently.<\/p>\n
In Poland, the president can propose bills and veto government legislation. Similarly, the government can also block the president\u2019s proposals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neighbour Poland has been one of Ukraine\u2019s staunchest backers since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Ukraine\u2019s access to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,12,770,7661,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-373426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-poland","12":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","13":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115091802906758840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}