In the Polish city of Przemysl, all those responsible for five incidents involving the removal of Ukrainian flags from the building housing the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine and the Association of Ukrainians in Poland have been identified and detained. A total of nine individuals, aged between 21 and 51, were apprehended.
Karolina Kowalik, spokesperson for the Przemysl police, and Marta Petkowska, spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office, reported this to Ukrinform.
“The Przemysl Police Department recorded a total of five such incidents in 2025. Officers of the Przemysl Police Department identified and detained those responsible in all of these cases,” Kowalik said.
According to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Przemysl, nine individuals aged between 21 and 51, all Polish citizens, were detained in connection with the five incidents of tearing down Ukrainian flags.
“The suspects who provided statements claimed that they acted while under the influence of alcohol and did not think about the consequences of their actions. None of them indicated that hostility toward Ukraine was their motive,” Petkowska stated.
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She added that none of the detained individuals had participated in more than one such incident.
Additionally, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Przemysl reported that five investigations are underway concerning the removal and damage of Ukrainian flags and flagpoles from the building of the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine in Poland and the office of the Association of Ukrainians in Poland. The incidents occurred on June 16, July 6, August 10 and 15, and October 26 of this year.
The cases are being investigated under Article 137 (public insult to a national symbol) and Article 288 (property damage) of the Polish Criminal Code. Two cases (from June 16 and August 15) have been forwarded to the Przemysl District Court. One of them has already resulted in a court ruling imposing a fine. In the second case, a hearing is scheduled for November 12 of this year. Investigations in the remaining three cases are still ongoing.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, police in Przemysl detained two local residents, aged 21 and 23, who tore down the Ukrainian flag from the building of the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine in Przemysl on October 26.
Previously, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned against the rise of anti-Ukrainian sentiment in the country, emphasizing that there is “a noticeable hand of the Kremlin” behind this process.
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