Speaking of this Russian-Ukrainian conflict from 2022 to the present, it has been a whole three years and seven months, the Russian military advances in eastern and southern Ukraine, the losses are not small, the Western sanctions are also bitten to death.
But judging from Russian official media and poll data, things are not that simple. A poll in the summer of 2025 showed that most Russians ranked Poland as the least popular country, with a negative ratio even higher than that of the United States and Ukraine.
This sounds a bit unexpected, but it is also normal to think carefully.Poland is not only the rapid vanguard of NATO’s east expansion, but also the “logistics manager” in the Russian Ukrainian battle station, making Russia feel that the neighbor is even closer to the eyes than the United States, which is far off the sky.
Russians point to Poland: the resentment behind the polls
Why do Russians see Poland that way? Let's not talk about the old scores of history, let's start with the current war situation. As soon as the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, Poland became Ukraine's "hardcore brother". The border was more than 500 kilometers long. As refugees surged, Poland directly opened its arms to receive nearly two million Ukrainians. This figure sounds scary, but what is even more terrible is military aid.
Poland is not only collecting people, but also constantly sending weapons to Ukraine, from tanks to missiles, from aircraft to ammunition, basically everything.In March 2022, the first batch of Polish PT-91 tanks passed by, when Ukraine still lacked heavy equipment, this batch directly helped a lot of work.
By 2023, Poland took the lead in lobbying Germany, sending out the leopard 2 tank aid, Germany before dying, is afraid to stimulate Russia, and as a result, Poland pushed, the thing became.
In April 2024, Poland openly pledged to provide F-16 fighter aid, and pilot training began. by September 2025, Poland will add another €100 million in aid package, with special funds for arms purchases transferred to Ukraine.
When Russia looked at it, didn't it look like Poland was stabbing in the back? Without Poland as a transit station, Ukraine's supply lines would have been broken long ago, and the war situation might have changed long ago. The Russian media is talking about this every day, saying that Poland is "NATO's bridgehead" and specializes in interfering with Eastern Europe. In several speeches, Putin also named Eastern European countries for arms expansion, with anger towards Poland in his words.
Looking at domestic public opinion in Russia, an independent poll in July 2025 showed that more than 60% of respondents had a negative attitude towards Poland, higher than 55% towards the United States and 50% in Ukraine. This data is not groundless. The Russians feel that Poland is too close and active, and they often pull NATO to expand eastward.
When Poland joined NATO in 1999, Russia felt that its backyard was lost; Poland's entry into the European Union in 2004 made things even worse. Now that Russia and Ukraine are fighting, Poland is still deploying troops on the border. On September 11, 2025, it was reported that Poland directly sent 40,000 soldiers to the eastern border to monitor the "West-2025" joint exercise between Russia and Belarus.
The exercise was large-scale. Russia dispatched tens of thousands of troops, Belarus also participated in it. When Poland became nervous, it pulled its own troops forward to confront each other. When the Russians saw that this was not only helping Ukraine, but also making enemies at their doorstep. Their resentment naturally went to Poland.
To be honest, Russia hates the United States on a strategic level, hates Ukraine is the direct battlefield, but hates Poland is that kind of neighborhood fire.
In polls, many Russians left messages saying that Poland is a "troublemaker in Eastern Europe." This sentiment was not accumulated in a day or two, but had to be dug up in history.
Old accounts and new calculations: The broken things that Poland and Russia have been struggling for hundreds of years
The beam between Poland and Russia can't be swallowed by anyone. Since the 17th century, the two sides have never stopped, and more than 40 battles have been fought, basically all of which can't get around the territory competition in Eastern Europe. In the earliest Livonian War, from 1558 to 1583, Russia wanted to squeeze into the Baltic Sea, but the alliance of Poland and Lithuania blocked it.
Russia won a little, but Poland did not lose. Later, the Thirteenth War of 1654 to 1667, was more directly due to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Cossack uprising, Poland could not control, and as soon as Russia stretched out, the Ukrainian Left and Smolensk took over.
King Jan Kazimierz II of Poland was so angry that he gathered his troops to counterattack. In the Battle of Warsaw, the Russian army was almost wiped out, but in the end it was Russia who took advantage.
What makes Poles grind their teeth the most is the three partitions in the 18th century. For the first time in 1772, Russia, Prussia and Austria sat down to share the cake. Russia swallowed a large area of eastern Poland, including Belarus and Ukraine, accounting for 60% of Poland's territory. At that time, the Polish parliament was paralyzed, the nobles fought among themselves, and King Stanislaw II's hands probably trembled when he signed it.
In 1793, during the second partition, Russia took over central Ukraine, shrinking Poland's territory by half. For the third time in 1795, Poland was wiped off the map, Russia was divided into Vilno and Lithuania, and the Poles lost their country for 123 years. Russian troops are stationed in various parts of Poland, collecting taxes and conscription, and the Poles live a life of dependence every day. This period of history is written bloody in Polish textbooks, and it is mentioned every year on the anniversary.
The 20th century did not improve either. In 1918, Poland reinstated in a few years, in 1919 to 1921, the Soviet War broke out. The President of Poland Bishushkin entered, in April 1920 the Red Army seized Kiev, the Warsaw battle, the Polish army with the side wing of the armored train, the Red Army lost hundreds of thousands of prisoners.
On August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty, divided Poland from it, and on September 17, the Red Army entered from the east, the Poles were beaten and the country was torn apart.In the 1940 Katyn disaster, the Soviet internal forces killed 22,000 Polish officers, bodies buried in the woods, family members searched for half a century to speak back.
After World War II, Poland became nominally independent, but actually a satellite country of the Soviet Union. It joined the Warsaw Pact in 1955, and its military economy was entirely subject to Moscow. In 1989, the drastic changes in Eastern Europe occurred, Polish trade unions took the lead, and the round table talked about reform. As soon as the influence of the Soviet Union withdrew, Poland went straight to the West. It joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. When Russia saw it, its old neighbor turned his face and refused to recognize others.
After Putin came to power, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the "catastrophe of the century", NATO's east expansion was the strategic pressure, Poland took the lead, this old account is unclear.
Poland's "backyard arson": Military aid to Ukraine makes Russia restless
In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Poland plays the most eye-catching role. It is not only the Depth Charge of NATO's eastern flank, but also uses its own borders as battlefield logistics. As soon as the war started in February 2022, Poland became the first stop for refugees. Two million Ukrainians poured in. The Polish government allocated funds to build temporary camps, and all schools and hospitals opened. It sounds humane, but Russia feels that Poland is raising troops.
Military aid is even more ruthless. All the old Soviet equipment in Poland's inventory is transferred to Ukraine. PT-91 tanks and MiG-29 aircraft are crossing the border by car. In January 2023, the Polish Prime Minister personally called German Chancellor Scholz and persuaded him to release Leopard 2 tanks. As a result, Germany let go and the first batch of 30 vehicles went straight to the Ukrainian front line.
By 2024, Poland's total aid will exceed 10 billion euros, including Haima rocket systems and ammunition production line technology. Russian intelligence said that the US-made weapons transferred in Polish warehouses accounted for 30% of Ukraine's imports, which lengthened Russia's supply lines and soared the number of casualties.
On September 28, 2025, Russia launched a large-scale attack of more than 600 missiles and drones on Ukraine. The Polish Air Force directly dispatched F-16s to intercept and shoot down several Russian drones that broke into airspace. The Deputy Prime Minister of Poland stated on the spot that these drones did not "accidentally yaw" but deliberately targeted Poland.
In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Poland was "provocating NATO."The United Nations warned on September 12 that the risk of such incidents escalated and Europe was not far from a comprehensive conflict.
Poland itself is also pushing for military expansion. The defense budget represents 2.7 percent of GDP in 2022 and drops directly to 4.7 percent in 2025, up to $487 billion. The list of purchases is long, with 96 American-made Abramstank, 30020 Apache helicopters, 32 F-35 fighters, as well as buying K2 tanks and K9 cannons from South Korea.
The size of the army expanded from 120,000 to 300,000 targets, and by 2035, the Polish army could become the largest in Europe, fully equipped, domestic military personnel also on horses, and the Rothmire tank factory daily overtime.
The Russian media scolded Poland every day for the "resurrection of militarism", saying that it pulled Lithuania and the Czech Republic to form an eastern wing alliance to fight against Russia. On September 12, 2025, as soon as the "West-2025" exercise between Russia and Belarus started, 40,000 Polish soldiers took the lead. Other NATO countries were still dawdling, and Poland took the lead.
Russians feel that Ukraine is "brothers against each other", the United States is a big country game, but Poland is close combat, and hatred is naturally the deepest. In polls, young Russians said that Poland has been too arrogant in recent years and will have to settle the score sooner or later.
Eastern Europe's gunpowder: Russia's confrontation escalates and easing is far from overdue
Poland has made great moves in recent years, so Russia naturally doesn't sit there. On September 10, 2025, when a swarm of Russian drones attacked Ukraine, several flew into Polish airspace. The Polish Air Force took off in an emergency and the missiles were directly killed. Russia said it was a "technical failure", Poland did not buy it, and the deputy prime minister publicly accused it of "deliberate invasion".
This matter has caused trouble to the United Nations, and Secretary-General Guterres warned that regional risks are heating. Residents in eastern Poland were also panicked. The Warsaw Daily reported that locals were worried that Russia's "mixed war" would turn into a hot war. Border town patrols would work overtime and residents would hoard food and buy insurance.
On the Russian side, Putin continued to emphasize NATO’s Eastern expansion threat, and at the Munich Security Conference in 2025, he again mentioned the 1990 West’s “non-Eastern expansion” promise, now Poland leads the expansion, Russia’s security space is gone.
The Russian army is exercising at the border of Belarus, the missile system targets Eastern Europe, diplomatically Russia and Hungary, trying to divide the European Union. Poland is uncompromising, Prime Minister Tusk said, Poland should be the "new European leader sheep", joint Baltic states to build the Eastern Wing group, defending Russia's East Mountains again.
The Russian-Ukrainian warfare is dragging, the Polish military has risen, the Russian economy is under pressure, the value added tax may rise again in 2026 and the war funds are exhausted. Experts say that the Russian-Polish relations have no room for reconciliation, Poland hates the history of Russian aggression, and Russia hates the Polish aggression at the moment.
On September 15, 2025, the Wall Street Journal interviewed residents of eastern Poland. They said, Russia's war is at its doorstep. De-escalation? Don't even think about it.
The same is true of Russian public opinion. In the RT TV program, the guest bluntly stated that Poland is an "eternal enemy", and this confrontation is estimated to be accompanied by Eastern Europe for decades.