Polish activists raise funds to buy Kielce buses for Vinnytsia and criticize politicized aid dispute
In an appeal published on the fundraising page, foundation representatives criticized the political disputes surrounding support for Ukraine. They said they were ready to buy the used but technically serviceable buses for the Ukrainian city on their own.
The campaign's overall goal is 500,000 zlotys.
The campaign concerns 15 buses that are 17 years old. According to the activists, if the buses are not handed over to Ukraine, they will most likely remain in a storage yard, gradually deteriorate, or be sent for scrap.
The foundation stresses that the amount needed to implement the project is small in terms of state spending, but carries fundamental importance as a symbol of civic solidarity.
For local politicians, the noise around aid is a free opportunity to score points in the polls.
For us, it is the real price of proving that true solidarity still exists, and we will not allow politicking to block strict logistics," the activists said.
As noted, by the evening of June 11, the organizers had managed to raise almost 57,000 zlotys.
The foundation also said that if it cannot buy and transfer the buses for reasons beyond the campaign organizers' control, it will direct the collected funds to projects related to protecting civilians from Russian air attacks.
Background
It should be noted that Vinnytsia earlier withdrew its request for 15 old buses from its Polish twin city, Kielce. The city decided after a wave of outrage in Poland over the fact that the vehicles were expected to operate on Stepan Bandera Street in Vinnytsia.
As reported, the scandal erupted amid growing tensions in Ukrainian-Polish relations. Warsaw's reaction to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi's decision to grant one of the Special Operations Forces units the honorary title "named after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" triggered the dispute. Poland condemned the decision, viewing it as a tribute to people it links to crimes against the Polish population.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki also said he intended to seek the revocation of Volodymyr Zelenskyi's highest Polish state award, the Order of the White Eagle. He cited the Ukrainian president's decision to name an elite unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces "after the Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" as the reason.
At the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said the history of the Polish and Ukrainian peoples contains both glorious and tragic pages, but that honoring the heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army did not carry an anti-Polish subtext. He stressed that any discussion of the past should be professional and based on reliable sources. He emphasized that, as our history confirms, only Moscow benefits from disputes between Ukrainians and Poles.
For his part, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said a possible decision to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi of the Order of the White Eagle would have a serious impact on Poland's foreign policy.
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12 of June 2026
