Polish president vetoes aid law, plans to limit support for Ukrainian refugees

Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Monday vetoed legislation extending state financial assistance to Ukrainian refugees and announced plans to limit their future access to child benefits and health care, according to a local media report.

Nawrocki vetoed legislation that would have extended state financial aid to Ukrainian refugees and provided a legal basis for Poland to fund Ukraine's Starlink access, said a report by TVP World.

"Presidential vetoes are slashing blindly! With his decision, Karol Nawrocki is cutting off Ukraine's internet, since that is effectively what his veto of the law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens means," Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzystof Gawkowski said on the US social media company X.

He stressed that it marks the "end of the Starlink internet" that Poland has been providing to Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the Digital Affairs Ministry also told TVP World that Nawrocki's veto meant there would be no legal basis for paying for Elon Musk's Starlink on October 1.

Nawrocki also announced plans to limit Ukrainian refugees' future access to child benefits and healthcare.

"I did not change my opinion, and I intend to fulfill my obligations, and I believe that (family) benefit should only be granted to those Ukrainians who make the effort to work in Poland, the same with healthcare," Nawrocki told the media.