Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship Society AIding Ukraine and Refugees From Ukraine After 24 February 2022 – Selected Aspects

The war in Ukraine started in 2014, but the unprovoked Russian aggression on this country on 24 February 2022 was an unprecedented event – the first of this kind since the end of World War II. This aggression triggered one of the largest humanitarian crises in Europe. Over 4 million refugees crossed the Ukrainian border during the first six days of the war, whereas 1.83 million arrived in Europe from Syria during the entire 2015. Most of the refugees from Ukraine came to Poland. Polish society, NGOs, and local and central government organisations greatly aided Ukrainian refugees. According to the main study hypothesis, the regional authorities and the “minority” churches in the Warmin sko-Mazurskie Voivodship, situated a considerable distance from Ukraine but neighbouring the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation, were greatly involved in aiding refugees from Ukraine. The research problems in the study questions included: 1) what was the extent of the aid provided to refugees from Ukraine, organised by the Voivodship governor as the government representative in the region? 2) what was the extent of the aid provided to the refugees by the local government of the Voivodship of Warmia and Mazury, whose twin region is the Rivne Oblast? 3) what is the extent of the aid provided by the “minority” churches operating in the voivodship under study? 4) how did the aid provided by the University of Warmia and Mazury, cooperating for years with Ukrainian universities (especially with the Lviv Technical University, National University of Ivan Frank in Lviv and the National University of Ostroh Academy), manifest itself? This paper presents the involvement of the central and local governments of the Warmin sko-Mazurskie Voivodship, as well as the aid of “minority” churches and the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, which resulted in the positive verification of the study hypothesis. The institutional and legal analysis was the leading method.