Polish PM condemns abuse of Ukrainian girls, blames political rhetoric

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday condemned the verbal abuse of two 11-year-old Ukrainian girls on a city bus in southern Poland, calling it a "disgusting" incident and warning that increasingly hostile political rhetoric toward Ukrainians was fuelling such attacks.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Photo: EPA/VALENTINA CAMU

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Paris, Tusk said the case showed the damaging consequences of inflammatory language used by some politicians and media outlets.

"It is a disgusting incident and, unfortunately, proof that inciting people and stirring up hostility from above—sometimes by certain media, sometimes by certain politicians—has disastrous consequences," he said.

The girls, who had fled war-torn Ukraine, were verbally assaulted on a public bus in the southern city of Bielsko-Biała on Sunday by a 54-year-old man, who shouted insults and obscenities at them, according to Polish media reports.

Police detained the suspect on Monday after Poland's Centre for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour filed a complaint. Prosecutors are investigating the case.

Polish police said they had identified and detained the man after a video appeared to show him verbally abusing a Ukrainian teenage girl and her friends on a bus in the southern city of Bielsko-Biała on Sunday. Image: policja.pl

'Acting against the public interest'

Tusk said he understood that tensions could arise when a country hosted a large refugee population.

"That is always the case when you have a large group of refugees," he said. "We are talking about 1.5 million people who speak a somewhat different language."

But he argued that public officials had a responsibility to calm such emotions rather than exploit them.

"If someone is a politician and wants to ride the wave of changing public moods, for example anti-Ukrainian sentiment, then for me that person is acting against the public interest," Tusk said.

'A deadly form of politics'

The prime minister also criticised comments made on Monday by Przemysław Czarnek, a deputy leader of the opposition conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, who said Poland should use its position in the European Union and NATO to pressure Ukraine into changing its policies toward Poland.

Czarnek said the EU should suspend funding for Ukraine's military and reconstruction until Kyiv adopted what he called "pro-human values."

Tusk described the remarks as "idiotic" and accused opposition politicians of competing over who could adopt the toughest anti-Ukraine stance.

"That is a deadly form of politics," he said.

- Unia Europejska powinna wstrzymać finansowanie zbrojeń i odbudowy Ukrainy do czasu zmiany jej polityki wobec Polski - uważa @CzarnekP. https://t.co/hC7siQw8Wx

— PolsatNews.pl (@PolsatNewsPL) July 14, 2026

Although Tusk has frequently criticised the previous PiS government, he praised its decision to provide immediate assistance to Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"If there is one decision by that government that I can praise without reservation, it was the decision to provide immediate help to Ukraine," he said.

"Thanks to that, Ukraine may have survived those first difficult days and weeks," he added.

He told reporters that Poland's support had played a crucial role in preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine and potentially advancing farther into Europe.

Tusk appealed to politicians across the political spectrum to stop using inflammatory rhetoric.

"As long as I am prime minister, Poland will continue to actively support Ukraine, within our capabilities and without compromising our own security," he said.

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Source: IAR, PAP