Polish prosecutors charge a woman over an attack on Ukrainian children. Consulate says the siblings were targeted for speaking Ukrainian
The attacker twisted one child's arm, broke the siblings' toy drone, and threw its fragments at the 12-year-old boy, scratching him, according to the family and the consulate.
A Polish woman has been charged with racially aggravated offenses following an attack on two Ukrainian siblings in Bydgoszcz. The incident occurred in a park near the city's main railway station, four days after the alleged assault. Polish prosecutors filed charges against the 46-year-old woman on the same day as her arrest, along with a 34-year-old man who was detained as a witness.
The attack involved the adults insulting and threatening the children, who were speaking Ukrainian. The woman denied intentionally insulting or harming the children, presenting a different account to the police. The case highlights the growing number of suspected hate crimes against Ukrainians in Poland, with 180 such reports received by police in the first half of 2026.
Prosecutors charged only the woman, while the man was questioned as a witness despite both adults being described as aggressors by the mother and the consulate. The siblings, aged 14 and 12, were playing with a toy drone when the adults confronted them. The destruction of the drone was treated as a misdemeanor due to its low value.
The incident is one of several recent attacks targeting Ukrainian victims in Poland, including assaults in Poznań and Wrocław. The escalating anti-Ukrainian violence has been fueled by Poland's declining support for Ukrainian refugees and strained relations between the two countries.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
