The Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration of Poland, Marcin Kierwinski, announced that law enforcement officers have detained five Poles aged 15-18, who are suspected of beating three Ukrainian teenagers in Warsaw on May 7.
He wrote about this on the social network X.
“Zero tolerance for aggression. A few days ago, three teenagers, citizens of Ukraine, were brutally beaten on the Świętokrzyskie Bridge in Warsaw. In connection with the attack, police detained five people, citizens of Poland aged 15-18. Further procedural actions are ongoing,” wrote Kierwinski.
According to Onet, all of the detainees are Polish citizens aged 15 to 18. Three of them are minors: two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old; the others are 17 and 18 years old. One of the men was detained at his workplace in a car repair shop in the city of Marky.
“All detainees are well known to the police in Prague's Shmulovizna district. ” This is a historic neighborhood on the right bank of the Vistula, which is part of the Prague-North district in Warsaw (Poland), and not in the city of Prague (Czech Republic). . They already had problems with the law. Now the police are investigating all the circumstances of this brutal attack and establishing the role played by each of the detained men in it,” the publication notes.
Law enforcement officers are preparing procedural materials for transfer to the prosecutor's office. At the same time, the investigation is leaning towards the version that the attack did not have a national basis, since the collected evidence does not confirm this.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Poland has already responded to the beating of Ukrainians. The diplomatic mission stated that it expresses “deep concern over the brutal attack on a group of Ukrainian teenagers in Warsaw on May 7, 2026” and strongly condemns “any manifestations of violence, xenophobia, hate speech, and aggression on national or linguistic grounds.”
“It is of particular concern that the victims of the attack were minors who were forced to leave their homes due to Russian aggression against Ukraine and sought safety in Poland. We express our gratitude to the Polish police and medics for their prompt response and assistance,” the diplomatic department noted.
The embassy also emphasized that they are in contact with Polish law enforcement agencies and the victim's family, are closely monitoring the progress of the investigation, and are ensuring the provision of necessary consular and legal assistance.
In addition, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission called on the competent authorities of Poland to conduct a “thorough, impartial and prompt investigation,” as well as to identify and hold accountable all those involved in the attack.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Poland will continue to respond to all cases of violence or discrimination against Ukrainian citizens and will provide the necessary consular support to victims,” the embassy added.
What is known about the incident?
The incident occurred on May 7 at around 6:30 p.m. on the Świętokrzyskie Bridge in Warsaw. According to the investigation, a group of teenagers — four Ukrainian boys and a Polish girl — were approached by a group of ten “extremely aggressive” Polish citizens. They knocked three of the boys to the ground and began beating them on the head, even trying to throw one of them off the bridge into the river.
During the beating, the attackers shouted: “Go the hell back to Ukraine!”
One of the victims, 16-year-old Artem, was hospitalized with a skull fracture and facial cuts. The boy, who left Zaporizhia for Poland with his family after the start of the full-scale war, decided to file a police report.