Ukraine’s president has put forward a bill in the country’s parliament that would grant Poles living in the country special status.

A spokesman for the president said that the bill represents „a mark of gratitude to the Polish nation for the solidarity and support extended to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion”. Under the bill, Poles in Ukraine would enjoy rights and guarantees similar to those Poland had granted to Ukrainians fleeing the war. For instance, Polish citizens will be allowed to stay legally in Ukraine for 18 months after the bill is enacted; they will also be able to work, do business, study, use healthcare services and claim certain social benefits in Ukraine.

Source – Polskie Radio

Poland yesterday commemorated its National Day of Remembrance of Victims of Genocide by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles during World War II.

President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki attended events to commemorate the victims of wartime killings known as the Volhynia Massacres. The massacres were carried out between February 1943 and the spring of 1945 by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Nazi German-occupied Poland. Some 100,000 ethnic Poles in total were slaughtered in the 1940s by Ukrainian forces, according to some estimates.

Source – Polskie Radio

The Polish National anthem is 95 years old this week and the country is holding a series of events to mark the occasion.

The anthem known as the „Dąbrowski’s Mazurka” was penned by writer and politician Józef Wybicki. The lower house of Poland’s parliament in October passed a resolution to designate 2022 as the Year of Józef Wybicki. This year marks the 200th anniversary of his death as well as 275 years since his birth and 225 years since he wrote his „Dąbrowski’s Mazurka,” which was originally entitled „The Song of the Polish Legions in Italy”. The piece became the country’s official anthem, also known as „Poland Is Not Yet Lost,” in 1927.

Source – Polskie Radio

And finally, one of Poland’s Maritime Search and Rescue teams based in Gdynia have been busy over the last few days, with two call-outs coming within a matter of hours of each other rescuing an oil rig worker and a sailor from a Swedish ferry from the Baltic.

On Sunday night into Monday morning the crew of 43rd Naval Aviation Base based in Gdynia received a call for one of the crew of a Stena Nordic ferry who required immediate hospitalization following a suspected heart attack, transferring him to the 7th Naval Hospital in Gdańsk Oliwa. In the second call, which happened on Sunday morning, a worker from the Lotos Petrobaltic platform in the Baltic also required hospitalisation and was ferried to the same hospital. The unit has so far taken part in 14 search and rescue operations this year.

Source – Radio Gdańsk

Weather

Today will be a sunny day in a strong and gusty winds with temperatures of 22 degrees centigrade (72 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and 15 degrees overnight. Tomorrow will be another sunny day in a moderate breeze and temperatures of 25 degrees during the day and 14 degrees overnight.

Martin Caren