Former Polish ambassador to Ukraine (2001–2005) Marek Ziółkowski has challenged official narratives around Warsaw’s support for Kyiv in a report titled “Polish Aid to Ukraine: Bare Facts and a Bitter Diagnosis,” prepared for the Stefan Batory Foundation.
Ziółkowski acknowledges that Poland’s assistance after Russia’s full-scale invasion was substantial and unprecedented, particularly in 2022–2023. However, he argues that politicians systematically inflated the figures to cast Poland as the world’s leading donor, while downplaying the economic benefits the country itself received.
Official claims that aid reached nearly 4.9% of GDP relied on an unconventional method, the diplomat says. Multi-year spending was measured against Poland’s 2021 GDP — before the war and subsequent economic growth — and domestic costs of hosting Ukrainian refugees were counted as assistance to Ukraine. Applying standard international metrics, total aid in 2022–2023 amounted to roughly 1.7% of GDP, about half the figure cited by officials.
The report’s most striking findings concern Poland’s gains. Drawing on a Deloitte study for UNHCR, Ziółkowski notes that Ukrainian refugees contributed 1.5% to Poland’s GDP in 2022, 2.3% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2024. In effect, the economy earned as much or more from their labour as the state spent on aid. These numbers, he argues, deserve equal weight in public debate.
Poland also maintained a consistent trade surplus with Ukraine and saw strong growth in exports, including arms, much of it commercial sales to the Ukrainian market. Ziółkowski criticises the later use of the aid issue as a domestic political tool, the demands for “gratitude,” and the subsequent scaling-back of state support.
The report has prompted debate in Poland, with some experts endorsing the methodological critique and others defending the official tallies. Ziółkowski does not dispute the real scale or importance of early assistance, including military aid, but calls for a more accurate and transparent accounting.