Context: On October 17, 2026, The Times reported that troops would take part in exercises in Poland in November to rehearse the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. Such a force could be sent to Ukraine if a ceasefire agreement were reached between Russia and Ukraine At least 1,500 military personnel from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany would take part, alongside Polish forces.
On October 19, 2026, a video was posted on the YouTube channel Słowo Prawdy (”Word of Truth”; removed from YouTube at the time of publication) in which Davide Carbonaro attributed high fuel prices to money being collected for Ukraine.
“The high fuel prices at gas stations in European Union countries are completely unjustified right now. They cannot be explained either by exchange rates or by how fuel prices compare with those of a few years ago. The disparity is simply unbelievable. ... It’s simple: the surplus of collected fuel payments, that is, taxes, is money that every European country collects and sends to Ukraine. Since governments have nowhere else to get money, they collect it where people are forced to pay this tax.”
The Weekly Top Fake team compared the price of Euro-Super 95 gasoline in Poland during the second week of October in 2021, 2025, and 2026, using data from the European Commission. In October 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a liter cost about 5.86 zlotys. In October 2025, the price was nearly identical at 5.87 zlotys. By October 2026, it had risen to 6.89 zlotys.
However, the gasoline tax rates in Poland remained virtually unchanged from October 2021 to October 2025. The VAT rate remained at 23%, while the excise tax rose by just 1.5 groszy, from 1.514 to 1.529 zlotys per liter. By contrast, in October 2026, the authorities cut taxes to curb rising fuel prices. They reduced the VAT to 8% and the excise tax to 1.239 zlotys per liter.
The difference is also evident in the retail price structure. In October 2025, of the 5.87 zlotys per liter of gasoline, 2.96 zlotys was the pre-tax cost, and 2.91 zlotys went to taxes and fees. One year later, the pre-tax price increased to 4.85 zlotys, while the tax portion decreased to 2.04 zlotys. In other words, the price of gasoline in Poland rose by about one zloty per liter over the year, despite a decrease in the taxes and fees included in the price.
Data from the European Union also does not show that rising prices led to a comparable increase in taxes per liter. In October 2021, the average price of Euro-Super 95 gasoline was €1.603 per liter. Of that price, €0.883 consisted of taxes and fees. In October 2026, the total price reached €2.010, with taxes and fees accounting for €0.897.
Although gasoline prices rose by about a quarter, the amount of taxes and fees per liter remained virtually unchanged. The increase was almost entirely due to the rise in the pre-tax fuel price, which rose from €0.720 to €1.113 per liter.
