Poland abbey stabbing kills priest, fuels hate fears

A knife attack at a Benedictine abbey in southeastern Poland killed a priest and has raised fears of increased anti-Ukrainian hostility in a country that hosts about 1.5 million Ukrainians.

Prosecutors said a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, identified as Ihor M. under Polish privacy rules, entered the abbey in Jaroslaw on Thursday morning and stabbed five people: three members of the clergy and two laypersons. One priest later died in hospital, and the suspect has been charged with murder and attempted murder.

The attack came after months of strained relations between Poland and Ukraine despite their close alliance since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A July study by Poland's Centre for Public Opinion Research found that 52 percent of Poles opposed accepting Ukrainian refugees, the first majority against doing so since Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.

Oleksandr Pestrykov, an advocacy expert from the Ukrainian House foundation in Warsaw, told AFP that Ukrainians in Poland had been reporting more unpleasant experiences in daily life, including on public transport and with neighbours.

Marcin Piotrowski, a sociologist and member of the Polish-Ukrainian association Folkowisko, said after the Jaroslaw attack: “We are on the brink of an online lynching.” Several local people also told AFP they had noticed more online hate speech and disinformation.

Jaroslaw lies about 30 kilometres from Poland's border with Ukraine. Piotrowski said Russian attacks on western Ukraine had triggered air alerts in the Polish region and put pressure on local people.

Members of the hard-right Ruch Narodowy, or National Movement, gathered outside a memorial near the abbey on the evening of the attack. Tomasz Buczek, a member of the European Parliament from the far-right Patriots for Europe group, told AFP: “We must verify who is entering our country.”

According to prosecutors' initial findings, the suspect entered Poland from Germany overnight Wednesday to Thursday and intended to travel on to Ukraine. They said he was turned back at the Korczowa border crossing because his car lacked the required insurance, and that the attack took place shortly afterwards.

Jaroslaw Mayor Marcin Nazarewicz told AFP that officials had met Poland's crisis management team after the attack to work with and talk to young Ukrainians in the city. He said the immediate danger had been neutralised but officials were considering possible consequences in the coming days.