Poles' once overwhelming support for Ukraine and Ukrainians in their war against the aggressor has somewhat waned over the years. Fewer Ukrainian flags are now visible in Warsaw, and during the presidential election, voters expressed a range of views on the issue.

"We sympathize with them deeply; we understand their situation and know from our own history what that looks like," said Tomasz.

"I think we should support Ukraine, but Ukraine should show at least some gratitude in return — for the fact that we support them, that Europe supports them and that the U.S. supports them. Right? But instead, we keep hearing about money being stolen and about corruption. That doesn't look good," said Tomek.

"Of course Poland is helping Ukraine, but they don't treat us well," Hanna said.

"For some countries, continuing support becomes harder when others begin to limit theirs," said Arkadiusz. "We helped Ukraine a lot — I helped myself. Now they need to decide their own future," said Henryk.

According to a survey by Poland's Mieroszewski Center, only 23 percent of Poles currently have a positive view of Ukrainians, 30 percent view them negatively and the rest are neutral.

"You can't expect purely positive feelings to last indefinitely. What happened was that there was a massive wave of Ukrainian immigration to Poland and not all of them quickly adopted Polish customs. Meanwhile, Polish people grew tired of having so many Ukrainians in the country and that's when grassroots-level tensions started to emerge," said Lukasz Adamski, deputy director of the Mieroszewski Center.

This was followed by renewed focus on historical wounds and symbolic disputes, which were amplified by statements from politicians in both Ukraine and Poland — as well as by Russian disinformation campaigns.

"They're trying to convince Polish people that although Ukrainians are victims of Russian aggression, Poles should still treat them with suspicion," Adamski noted.

Ukrainians living in Poland have also drawn attention to Russia's activities.

"Unfortunately, Poland has become one of the centers for the spread of Russian disinformation. You can see xenophobic messages on social media and websites — all of that needs to be verified first. But overall, we are very happy and grateful to the Polish people for everything they have done for us," said Irina Antoniuk, a volunteer with the Euromaidan community in Warsaw.

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