Poland – A 100-page Report on Polish non-governmental organizations’ support for Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-fledged invasion of that country was presented during a conference in Kyiv on December 7. The report was prepared by the Polish Non-Governmental Initiatives Confederacy (KIPR). The KPIR describes itself as “a union of associations that brings together over 150 non-governmental organizations – associations, foundations, think tanks, rural women’s household groups, and many others” that “are guided by the following values: patriotism, sovereignty, community, freedom, family, and civil society”.

“We can be proud of what we did”, Kamil Rybikowski, Vice President of KIPR, said in Kyiv. “This aid was, and still is, for the Ukrainians who are in Poland, but it is also the humanitarian aid that still goes to Ukraine”.
Marcin Szewczak of the Search and Rescue Group of the Voluntary Fire Brigade in Walbrzych said at the conference in Kyiv that while at the beginning of the war Poles sent „everything that could be useful” to Ukraine, now this aid is based on specific needs, and he added: „Polish NGOs have partners in Ukraine and we are able to specify what is really needed. We are able to direct this aid so that it is effective. Today, Polish firefighters support their Ukrainian colleagues with training and the supply of specialist equipment.”
The report on the involvement of NGOs in assisting Ukraine in its war with Russia, which was presented in Kyiv on December 7, is available in Polish, Ukrainian, and English at polishngohelp.com.
The KIPR’s report contains a description of the different types of support and assistance provided to Ukrainians, both in Poland and in Ukraine, with the value of this aid for leading organisations such as Caritas and the Polish Red Cross.
Meanwhile, on November 27, the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (WEI) published its own report on Polish support for Ukraine, not only from the NGO sector. As its authors write, „It is very difficult to estimate the total amount of Polish aid to Ukraine. Due to its comprehensive nature, the many channels of support, and the difficulty in estimating the direct financial value of individual forms of assistance, any study can only be an estimate and approximation. It should be borne in mind that at the very beginning, the assistance was of an eminently grassroots and spontaneous nature, provided by individuals and private companies. It is difficult to estimate the cost of transporting Ukrainian citizens from border crossings to large cities, the value of distributed sandwiches or hot drinks at reception points set up by Polish volunteers, or the cost of flats or separate rooms made available to Ukrainian refugees.”
From the Polish statistical office GUS, we know that by the end of March 2022, ie. after one month of invasion, nearly 30 percent of Polish NGOs were engaged in some kind of support for Ukrainians in their home country, and 98 percent offered some level of help to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
„The most detailed analytical study to date on aid provided to Ukraine by the international community was prepared by the Kiel Institute for the Study of the World Economy in February 2023”, writes WEI. At that time Poland’s total aid to Ukraine, including support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland, amounted to more than 2 percent of Polish GDP, or PLN 56.6 billion, of which PLN 11.39 billion was military aid. In absolute terms, this was the third highest amount after the aid donated by the United States and Germany. And in terms of percentage of GDP, it was the highest amount of all countries assisting Ukraine.