Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, has vetoed a bill that would have prolonged key benefits for Ukrainian refugees and kept in place a legal basis for Warsaw to finance Ukraine’s use of Starlink, intensifying a policy clash with the government and injecting uncertainty into elements of Poland’s support for Kyiv. The veto, issued on August 25, came less than three weeks after Nawrocki was sworn in on August 6 and immediately rippled across domestic politics and the front lines in Ukraine, where Starlink remains a critical communications backbone.
The rejected legislation would have extended refugee support into 2026 and preserved monthly payments—widely reported at 800 zloty—that are due to lapse at the end of September, affecting a refugee population that has numbered around a million in Poland since Russia’s full-scale invasion. By blocking the bill, the president halted the extension and forced an urgent rethink of how aid is targeted and funded as autumn approaches.
Nawrocki argues that welfare should be more tightly focused on Ukrainians working in Poland and has said he will submit an alternative draft narrowing eligibility for cash benefits while restoring a legal basis for Starlink funding; his office also trails a broader cultural agenda that includes curbing public promotion of Stepan Bandera symbolism, a move likely to stir debate in Kyiv. Ministers, meanwhile, warn that without new legislation Starlink support could be interrupted as soon as October 1, a prospect critics call strategically reckless given Ukraine’s dependence on the system.
The veto underscores an early power test between the newly inaugurated head of state and the government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Under Poland’s rules, the Sejm can attempt to override a veto with a supermajority; failing that, a compromise bill acceptable to the president must be negotiated—potentially decoupling battlefield connectivity from the more contentious refugee-benefit provisions. Either path will be shaped by the calendar, with the current benefit framework expiring at the end of September and Starlink financing in question soon after.
Kyiv, for its part, has voiced confidence that Warsaw will find a way to maintain the Starlink lifeline even as it recalibrates refugee policy, but officials on both sides acknowledge that any gap would reverberate from command posts to hospitals. The coming weeks will show whether Poland can reconcile domestic priorities with its pivotal role in sustaining Ukraine’s war effort and the social stability of those displaced by it.
