Two-thirds of Poles support deportation of unemployed Ukrainian men

A proposal by Poland's opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party to deport Ukrainian men of conscription age who do not have legal employment has received broad public support in Poland.

The latest IBRiS poll for Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita found that 67.2% of respondents support the deportation of Ukrainian men without legal employment, while 23.4% oppose it.

The data show that support for the proposal increases with age. Among respondents aged 18-29, 43% support it, compared with 80% of those in their 50s. Religious respondents were also more likely to support the PiS proposal than their non-religious counterparts.

The survey was conducted on 7-8 August 2026, immediately after PiS unveiled the proposal, and polled more than 1,000 respondents.

Law and Justice has presented a new migration policy plan, one of the key proposals of which is to deport Ukrainian men of conscription age (25-60) if they do not have legal employment in Poland. The proposal has sparked widespread debate among politicians and the public.

"Law and Justice's plans to deport Ukrainians of conscription age are populism," said Karolina Gałecka, spokesperson for Poland's Ministry of the Interior and Administration. She also said that 95% of Ukrainian men in Poland are legally employed.

On 30 July, the Council of the EU approved, by written procedure, an extension of temporary protection for Ukrainians in EU countries, introducing a new provision under which newly arrived Ukrainian citizens liable for military service will be eligible for the status only if there are no issues with their military registration documents.