For more than four years, Russia has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine and providing aid to soldiers of the aggressor state is widely regarded as an extremely controversial and morally repugnant act.
The reports concerning Krzysztof Tołwiński – a former member of the Polish parliament in its sixth term and former deputy state treasury minister in Jarosław Kaczyński’s government – have caused particular alarm.
The politician published a video in which he announced that he had given first-aid kits to Russian soldiers, triggering a wave of criticism in the media and among the public.
What did Krzysztof Tołwiński do?
In the video, Krzysztof Tołwiński said that he had used his own funds to buy and deliver medical kits to Russian soldiers stationed at the front. The footage was recorded on Belarusian territory.
“We have bought – here is the invoice – 20 battlefield medical first-aid kits which, through our colleague, the party working with us, the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus (LDPB), we will pass on to soldiers of the Russian Federation, the lads in the trenches, as humanitarian aid, medical assistance,” Tołwiński said in the published video.
The politician also claimed that Russians “can always count on our help,” while criticising the support Poland is giving Ukraine.
As he handed over the medical kits to the LDPB leader Oleg Gajdukiewicz, who is on the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United States, Tołwiński stressed that the aid was to go to servicemen taking part in military operations which he described as a fight “for a new order, for peace, against Nazism.”
Tołwiński did not confine himself to providing the equipment; in the video he also appealed to Poles to support Russians in the ongoing conflict, justifying his position by the need to “normalise relations” and invoking the idea of “Slavic solidarity.”
This was not the first time Krzysztof Tołwiński voiced views aligned with the Kremlin’s narrative. For several years he has appeared in Belarusian and Russian media, criticised the Polish authorities for supporting Ukraine and expressed opinions that experts have described as pro-Russian.
In 2023, Tołwiński took the helm of a grouping he founded called Front, presented as an agrarian party but criticised by some commentators for its pro-Russian stance and contacts with Belarusian political circles.
In May 2026, Tołwiński submitted a request to organise a gathering at the cemetery of Soviet soldiers in Warsaw on Victory Day, a holiday of particular importance to Russia’s historical policy. The event was attended by representatives of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Poland and by Polish sympathisers of the Kremlin.
In 2026, the District Court in Białystok found Krzysztof Tołwiński guilty of insulting Ukrainians and inciting hatred on national grounds in a case conducted on the basis of a subsidiary indictment.
After the verdict was announced, Tołwiński said that the court’s ruling was for him a kind of “distinction” and that it strengthened his position in the public debate.
Facts and responsibility
Providing humanitarian assistance to civilians and wounded soldiers is consistent with the principles of international law.
However, such assistance should be distinguished from individual first-aid kits intended for direct use on the battlefield, which are part of military equipment rather than humanitarian support.
Politicians from various parties, commentators and internet users have pointed out that providing assistance to an army waging armed aggression against Ukraine may run counter to Poland’s national interest and the official policy of a state that supports Kyiv in the face of the Russian invasion.
Media reports indicate that the National Prosecutor’s Office is analysing information concerning the former deputy minister’s case. At this stage, however, the initiation of formal proceedings has not been confirmed.