Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Poland welcomes Ukrainian refugees with open arms – but will the country collapse under the weight of the crisis?

WYSZATYCE, Poland – Anna Wislocka is the type of person who hates to see guests hungry. As soon as someone sat down at her wooden kitchen table, she made her specialty coffee – with a hint of cinnamon – and a plate of cookies.

That’s what prompted Wislocka, a grocery store cashier, to open her home, a pale pink five-bedroom house with generous wooden paneling, for several Ukrainian families: Iryna Morykvas and Oksana Khymych, with their three children.

Wislocka, 55, speaking in Polish, puts her hand over her heart as she sits in her sunlit kitchen in Wyszatyce, a quiet village a few miles from the Ukrainian border. “It was natural for me to react this way.”

Wislocka, whose wide face creases easily when smiling, is one of thousands of Poles who have shown kindness to Ukrainians fleeing the war nearby. Polanda country of 38 million people, has attracted almost 2.6 million won Ukrainian refugees make up 60% of all migrants since the Russian invasion began in late February, according to the United Nations.

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Many Poles have welcomed Ukrainian families to their homes, making donations and volunteering to help the refugees. Despite millions of generous examples to Ukrainians fleeing, concerns are growing that Poland cannot tolerate this level of migration.

When NBC News visited Wyszatyce last month, Ukrainians said they felt at home in Wislocka’s house – cooking and eating with the host, her husband and her daughter.

Morykvas, 36, says in Ukrainian: “Sometimes I feel bad because they are sacrificing their comfort for us.

Morykvas, a children’s book illustrator, escaped Lviv, a Ukrainian border city, 50 miles east of Wyszatyce, with her 10-year-old son, Matvii, last month. They went to Poland with their neighbor Oksana Khymych, and her children, Danyil, 8, and Anna, 3.

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Anna Wislocka, 55, was hosting six refugees when NBC News visited her home in March.Jacobia Dahm for NBC News

Khymych, 35, shows reporters her room on the second floor of the Wislocka house, where she lives with her two children. It is right next to the one that Morykvas shares with her son.

It has everything you need – Khymych said – a TV, a comfortable bed and even a balcony.

“We found really good people,” said Khymych, an associate professor of economics at Lviv National Polytechnic University.

Tomasz Szeleszczuk, a district official in charge of nine villages, including Wyszatyce, said he was proud that his villagers had welcomed the Ukrainians.

“Right now we can help them,” says Szeleszczuk, 43.

But if more people come, the community will need more help from Polish authorities, he said. Szeleszczuk says he is worried about the effects the refugee crisis could have on healthcare and the economy across the country.

“It’s a challenge for the whole system,” he said.

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The Polish village of Wyszatyce is just a few miles from the border with Ukraine. Jacobia Dahm for NBC News

The flow of Ukrainian refugees into Poland has slowed in recent weeks – 28,908 people entered on April 9, compared with nearly 141,000 at its peak on March 6, according to the UN. But much else could happen if hostilities in Ukraine escalate.

Talk to President Joe Biden During a visit to Poland last month, Polish President Andrzej Duda warned that if Russia’s aggression continued, the number of refugees would continue to grow. “Great challenge” to Poland.

A shared history

While the exodus has traumatized millions of Ukrainians forced to flee their homes in the face of Russian threats, bullets and bombs, close cultural and historical ties to Poland have made Landing becomes easier for many people.

Piotr Kroll, a historian at the University of Warsaw, said the countries shared a period of peaceful coexistence and competition.

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Iryna Morykvas is a children’s book illustrator.Jacobia Dahm for NBC News

In the 19th century, Ukraine and Poland were ruled by Russia and Austria-Hungary, Kroll said. But both countries strive for independence, he added, which leads to conflict as both claim the same land as part of their state.

“In the 20th century, the Poles made these dreams come true, and part of the Ukrainian land became part of the Polish state,” says Kroll.

Poland has accused Ukrainian nationalists of ethnic cleansing of Poles in the World War IIand in recent years, Warsaw has demanded that Kyiv take responsibility for the massacres of the 20th century.

That history remains an emotional and divisive issue, but after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, many in Poland set aside historical disagreements, said Iwona Bobko, curator museum and historian in Przemysl, a border town where many Ukrainian refugees live.

“It is absolutely amazing to see both countries supporting each other, leaving behind a painful past,” said Bobko.

Anti-immigration rhetoric

Poland’s response to the refugee crisis is all the more remarkable because it right-wing leaders has openly opposed immigration in the past when immigrants came from different parts of the world and were of different ethnicities.

The ruling Justice and Law Party came to power in 2015 thanks in part to fierce anti-migrant rhetoric as Europe was dealing with a refugee crisis from the post-war Middle East in the Middle East. Syria.

Last yearThe Polish government has been criticized for its treatment of refugees, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistanon the border with Belarus, repelling them with water cannons and tear gas.

But the Polish ruling elite changed its tune when it came to Ukrainians.

Duda last month said that Ukrainians fleeing the war are not “refugees” but “our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from present-day Ukraine”. We are in a very difficult situation.”

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Oksana Khymych, associate professor of economics at Lviv National Polytechnic University, said of Anna Wislocka and her family: “We end up with really nice people.Jacobia Dahm for NBC News

Reflecting in part the fear of Russian aggression and domination, the Polish Parliament on 12 March through the legislation to help Ukrainians come to the country by giving them the right to stay in Poland for 18 months and allowing access to the country’s labor market, healthcare system, social welfare and education.

A Polish government spokesman said in an email last month that Poland must show solidarity with Ukraine’s neighbors “at all levels”.

Poland has been preparing for weeks to receive Ukrainians, and since the war broke out, it has opened all border crossings to its eastern neighbours, the spokesman said.

Too much to handle?

But some Polish mayors have sounded the alarm about their cities becoming overwhelmed, and residents in Rzeszów, near the border, also say they have concerns.

Working at a stationery kiosk at the downtown Hala Targowa shopping center, Anna Slabosz said she felt “heartbroken and desperate” when she saw Ukrainian mothers and children arriving in town. but she is also worried about Poland’s growing national debt as the country spends millions of dollars helping Ukrainian refugees.

“I think this will negatively affect us, Poland,” said Slabosz, 61.

She also worries about the cost to the health care system.

“We know very well what our healthcare system is like,” says Slabosz. “It can’t handle us, the Polish people, so what about these extra refugees?”

Volunteers handing out free food to Ukrainians arriving at Rzeszów’s central train station are also wondering how long the effort can continue.

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Rzeszów is the largest city in southeastern Poland, with nearly 200,000 inhabitants. Jacobia Dahm for NBC News

Katarzyna Dybas broke down in tears as she talked about residents giving away food and supplies to refugees and the emotional trauma it has taken on people.

“The refugees cry and we cry,” said Dybas, 34.

Her volunteer, Magdalena Rokita, worries that the city has run out of housing to accommodate the new arrivals.

Rokita, 58, said: “At some point, such a situation could upset the balance in the region. “This balloon will eventually explode.”

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