Aid for Ukraine and Belarus: Solidarity and Tension with Neighboring Countries
# Poland
by Satoshi MORITA
(Originally published as two Japanese articles in International Development Journal, Nos. 818 and 819, February and March 2025.)
『国際開発ジャーナル』2025年2月・3月号掲載記事
Executive Summary
1.Overview and Rationale
Poland has transformed from an aid recipient into a major “emerging donor,” and its geopolitical position on the EU’s eastern frontier has made its development cooperation a subject of growing international attention. Its neighbors Ukraine and Belarus share a history as former Soviet states and sit alike at the crossroads of the EU and Russia, yet today the two are on politically divergent paths. How have these shared roots and diverging paths shaped Poland’s approach to aid, and how has this changed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022? This article discusses that question from three perspectives: the state of Poland’s ODA to date, the ethnic Polish minority present in both countries, and the current state of relations with them.
2.Key Discussion Points
2-1 The Current State of Aid to Ukraine and Belarus
Historically, Poland’s assistance to both countries has consisted largely of scholarships and student support provided within Poland. In the case of Belarus, support in areas such as independent media and civil society has also long played an important role in democratization efforts. Ukraine, meanwhile, has seen its ODA rise sharply since February 2022, driven primarily by in-donor refugee costs – the cost of hosting refugees within the donor country itself – which came to roughly seven times its direct bilateral aid to Ukraine. Indeed, Poland hosts the second-largest number of Ukrainian refugees among EU member states. The high proportion of in-donor refugee costs counted as ODA reflects a broader trend among OECD/DAC countries in recent years, prompting some to question how such aid is measured and reported. Even so, Ukraine has remained Poland’s top aid recipient every year since 2017, reflecting a consistent prioritization of aid.
2-2 The Polish Minority in Two Neighbors
Sizeable ethnic Polish minorities are known to live in both countries: the Polish government issues a “Pole’s Card” (Karta Polaka), an identity document granting various entitlements and benefits to those of Polish descent, and – outside its formal ODA framework – has separately supported ethnic Polish minorities in both countries through cultural, educational, and media initiatives. Yet the two countries have responded very differently. In Ukraine, this support and the presence of an ethnic Polish community have been widely accepted, while in Belarus the authorities have moved to systematically suppress it – cracking down on Polish organizations and detaining activists, and restricting Polish-language education – and tensions between the two countries continue.
2-3 Diverging Relations with Neighboring Countries
Despite a dispute over historical memory and ongoing EU-level trade tensions over Ukrainian agricultural products, Poland’s relationship with Ukraine has shown signs of reconciliation and deepened through a security cooperation agreement. Relations with Belarus, by contrast, remain stalled and at their worst, amid persistent tensions over a manufactured migrant crisis and border security, including the construction of a border fence. Since February 2022 in particular, Ukraine has moved closer to the EU while Belarus has continued to display a pro-Russian stance, further deepening the divide between Poland’s relations with its two neighbors.
3.Implications and Insight
Underlying Poland’s aid policy is a distinctly Polish geopolitical and historical outlook, in which the independence of its eastern neighbors is seen as inseparable from Poland’s own sovereignty. This outlook produces a striking asymmetry in its development cooperation: Poland shows solidarity with Ukraine at war through large-scale assistance, while taking a harder line toward Belarus under the pro-Russian Lukashenko regime, focusing its aid on pro-democracy efforts that bypass the authorities. This asymmetry makes for a compelling case, showing how a single donor country can take fundamentally different approaches toward its two eastern neighbors. Some recipients of Poland’s ODA to both countries, including humanitarian aid, are also thought to be ethnic Poles, an aspect of practical support for ethnic kin that adds a further layer to Poland’s aid motivations. The trajectory of both relationships will likely hinge less on Poland’s own choices than on how the larger contest between a democratic EU and an increasingly authoritarian Russian sphere of influence unfolds, a contest that will continuously force Poland to adjust the course of its development cooperation policy.
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