United to win: Poland raises funds for buses for Ukraine
Under the initiative's plan, the collected funds are intended to be used to buy 15 used buses from the city of Kielce and transfer them to residents of Vinnytsia. If this agreement cannot be implemented, the organizers say they will look for suitable transport within Ukraine.
The initiative's organizers also stated that if the fundraising target is exceeded, they plan to expand the purchase of vehicles.
"For local politicians, the noise around aid is a free opportunity to score points in opinion polls. For us, it is the real price of proving that genuine solidarity still exists, and we will not allow politicking to block essential logistics," the activists said.
As a reminder, the fundraising campaign began after Vinnytsia Mayor Serhii Morhunov decided to withdraw a request for the transfer of buses. This happened amid a political controversy in Poland related to Polish-Ukrainian historical issues.
In the Kielce city council, some deputies argued that the city should not transfer used buses to Vinnytsia as long as Ukraine allegedly "honors war criminals." In particular, the Law and Justice party faction in the Kielce city council submitted a resolution to council chairman Maciej Jakubczyk, calling on the mayor of the Ukrainian city to rename Stepan Bandera Street. However, the vote on this resolution was not adopted.
What preceded this
As reported, the dispute emerged amid rising tensions in Ukrainian–Polish relations. The trigger was the reaction in Warsaw to the decision by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to grant an honorary designation to one of the Special Operations Forces units named after "the Heroes of the UPA." In Poland, this decision was condemned as an act of honoring individuals associated there with crimes against the Polish population.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki also announced plans to seek the revocation of Volodymyr Zelenskyi's highest Polish state award, the Order of the White Eagle. He linked this to the Ukrainian president's decision to name an elite Ukrainian special forces unit after "the Heroes of the UPA."
At the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi stated that the history of both nations includes both glorious and tragic pages, but that honoring UPA heroes was not intended to carry an anti-Polish message. He emphasized that discussions about the past should be professional and based on reliable sources, and noted that, as history shows, Russia is the only side that benefits from Ukrainian-Polish disputes.
Meanwhile, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that any possible decision to strip President Zelenskyi of the Order of the White Eagle would have a serious impact on Poland's foreign policy.
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16 of June 2026
