Assistance of Polish cities with county rights provided to Ukrainian international cooperation partners during the period of Russian aggression. The example of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeship

The aim of the research is to verify the admissibility of granting financial and material aid to territorial units from Ukraine by Polish cities with poviat rights. Consideration was also given to the state and scale of cooperation between cities with county rights (i.e. Bydgoszcz, Toruń and Włocławek) from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship and their partners from Ukraine during the period of Russian aggression. The paper uses the method of content analysis, in addition, own research was carried out involving local governments from the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and the results are presented. The results of the research in this paper proved that there is a legal possibility on the basis of the Act on local self-government (at the same time bearing in mind the provisions of the Act on public finances) to provide financial support from one’s own budget in the form of financial aid and in-kind support in the form of aid in kind to “local and regional communities” in Ukraine, including during the period of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In addition, the article found that all surveyed Polish local governments implemented international cooperation focused on humanitarian aid to Ukrainian partners. The article is original in nature and was devoted entirely to the issue of international cooperation during the period of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.