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The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a flow of refugees to Poland on a scale unprecedented in Europe since Second World War. Polish civil society, soon joined by government institutions, responded by offering the refugees, who counted in millions, shelter, material and social welfare assistance and legal accommodation. The war next door turned Poland into an EU and NATO frontline country, which led to more intense contacts between the Polish government and its Western partners, including the United States. This, however, did not help the government, which had marginalized itself within the EU by its own past actions, to resolve its disputes with the European Commission and the Court of Justice. Similarly, the uniform condemnation of the Russian aggression by all major political parties did not bridge the gap between the governing Law and Justice party and the opposition or even reduce the intensity of political conflicts.

The democratic backsliding, which began in Poland after the ascent to power of the Law and Justice/Prawo i Sprawiedliwość(PiS) party in 2015, continued in 2021. The Polish government maintained its confrontational attitude toward European institutions, from the European Commission to the European Parliament and the European Union's Court of Justice. The latter imposed on Poland a daily fine of €1 million for the government's refusal to reverse reforms of the judiciary that put into question the independence of judges. On the domestic front, the ruling camp underwent a series of internal frictions that jeopardized its majority in the lower house (Sejm), but it preserved a slim majority by co‐opting dissenters from other parliamentary caucuses and independents. The government's actions on the Polish–Belarussian border to prevent Middle Eastern refugees entering the country, and hence the EU, were a serious departure from international law principles.