Bielsko-Biała bus attack on Ukrainian children triggers wave of disinformation

The incident on the bus

On Sunday, 12 July, a 54-year-old man aggressively and vulgarly insulted three Ukrainian girls, two of them aged 11, on a municipal bus in Bielsko-Biała, southern Poland. The attack was filmed by one of the children. The man was heard shouting phrases such as "you are also a Ukrainian wh" and ordering them to "get the f out of this country." The driver and one female passenger intervened; the driver stopped the bus and ejected the attacker at the next stop. The man was detained by police on 13 July and, on 14 July, prosecutors charged him with publicly insulting three Ukrainian nationals on grounds of nationality and with violating the bodily integrity of one of them, an offence under Article 257 of the Polish Criminal Code carrying up to three years in prison.

The suspect admitted to committing the alleged offence and submitted extensive explanations in which he expressed regret for his behaviour.

The suspect, an MZK (Municipal Transport Company) bus driver who had been on extended sick leave, was placed under police supervision with a ban on contacting the girls and a requirement to stay at least 50 metres away. MZK terminated his employment after the incident.

A manipulated video from Russia goes viral

As news of the attack spread, a video purporting to show two drunk Ukrainians on a Polish bus began circulating widely on social media. The clip carried a Polish-language caption: "Nobody lifts a finger (...) there are no words, they act as if they were at home." The Ukrainian Centre for Countering Disinformation (CPD) determined the video was first published online in June 2026 and was actually filmed in the Russian city of Yaroslavl. Key evidence includes the interior of a MAZ-brand bus used in Russia and a can of the Russian beer brand ESSA, which is not sold in Poland, visible in the footage. The original Russian-language caption read "convicts listening to music." The CPD reported unusually high bot activity in posts sharing the clip.

The recording was published with comments in Polish whose authors claimed that Ukrainians "behave in Poland as if they were at home" and that residents are unable to react to such behaviour.

Fabricated witness accounts fuel the narrative

A Facebook comment attributed to a user named Teresa Kawczyńska, claiming to be based in Ostróda over 500 km from Bielsko-Biała, gained massive traction by asserting that "the girls spat on that man and insulted him" and that the man first asked them politely to be quieter. The post urged others to "read the Bielsko press," but no local outlet ever reported such a version. Both the Bielsko-Biała Municipal Transport Authority (MZK) and the local prosecutor's office denied the claim, and MZK stated that onboard CCTV did not confirm any provocative behaviour by the girls. The comment was later deleted from Facebook.

Online reach and narrative breakdown

According to an analysis by Res Futura, the girl's own video reached 14 million unique users between Sunday and Monday. The firm identified five dominant narratives in the online discussion. The largest cluster, roughly 14 percent, blamed right-wing political rhetoric for creating a climate of hatred that led to the attack. A separate 12 percent expressed shame at the passivity of bystanders, a rare cross-political narrative. Around 9 percent of commentary alleged that decisions by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the "Banderisation" of Ukraine had provoked anti-Ukrainian sentiment. Res Futura noted that approximately 6 percent of comments suggested the incident was a "set-up or provocation," often posted by accounts using nearly identical phrasing across multiple platforms. Overall, 62 percent of users viewed the event as a consequence of anti-Ukrainian political discourse in Poland, while 38 percent attributed it solely to the individual perpetrator's frustration.

Ambassador Bodnar thanks those who intervened

Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland, Wasyl Bodnar, released a video statement thanking Polish authorities, police, the Ministry of Interior and Administration, and the passengers who acted. He highlighted the universal principles at stake.

Nobody has the right to humiliate, intimidate or show aggression towards another person. And when aggression is directed at a child, all boundaries are crossed.

Bodnar described the event as a story about humanity, empathy, and a healthy societal response, singling out the female passenger who stood up for the Ukrainian child and the driver who intervened and removed the aggressor.

Broader pattern of anti-Ukrainian incidents

The Bielsko-Biała attack is not isolated. In recent months, anti-Ukrainian incidents in Poland have escalated from online platforms to physical spaces. A video from a Żabka store in the Tricity area showed a man verbally abusing a Ukrainian employee with nationality-based slurs and threats. Days later, Poznań police detained individuals who forced their way into an office run by a Ukrainian woman, claiming to check whether she "supports Stepan Bandera"; among them was Jarosław K., a former Territorial Defence Force soldier previously detained by the Internal Security Agency on suspicion of spying for Russia. In June, a 44-year-old Ukrainian taxi driver was beaten in Warsaw's Targówek district. A month earlier, a group of hooligans attacked several young Ukrainians on the Świętokrzyski Bridge, attempting to throw one teenager off the bridge while shouting "get the f*** out to Ukraine." In February, two Ukrainian women were assaulted in Pruszków with similar verbal abuse. Sociologist Professor Radosław Markowski, quoted by RadioZET.pl, argued that politicians bear responsibility for creating an atmosphere that dehumanises Ukrainians, stating that "the pack around the president has worked hard to make us disgusted by people who work hard here and contribute to our GDP growth."