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Ukrainians in Poland, 2002
The Ukrainian minority in Poland (Ukrainian: Українці, Ukraintsi, Polish: Ukraińcy) is composed of 27,172 people according to the Polish census of 2002. Most of them live in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.[2]
Most numerous concentrations of Ukrainians are in the north east (Olsztyn and Elbląg), north west (Słupsk and Koszalin) and south west of Poland (Legnica and Wrocław). There are some Lemko-Rusyns in Poland that are officially categorized as an "ethnic" (rather than a "national") minority, since there is no Lemko nation-state.
After the quashing of a Ukrainian insurrection at the end of World War II by the Soviet Union, about 140,000 Ukrainians remaining in Poland were forcibly moved to northern and western Poland in Operation Vistula (Polish: Akcja Wisła), being used to settle the land that Poland had just taken from Germany.
Since 1989, there has been a new wave of Ukrainian immigration, mostly of jobseekers, which is concentrated in larger cities. As a result of the Eastern Partnership, Poland and Ukraine have reached a new agreement replacing visas with simplified permits for Ukrainians residing within 30 km of the border. Up to 1.5 million people may benefit from this agreement which comes takes effect on July 1, 2009.[3]
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