Poland accuses Russia of arson over 2024 shopping centre fire
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Poland accuses Russia of orchestrating the Marywilska shopping centre fire in a suspected act of hybrid warfare.
Polish authorities have accused Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a devastating arson attack that destroyed the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw in May 2024. The incident, which obliterated over 1,400 small businesses and heavily impacted Warsaw’s Vietnamese community, is now officially being attributed to Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk publicly confirmed the allegations in a post on social media platform X, stating that Poland knows “for sure” the fire was an act of arson initiated under orders from Russian special services. Tusk added that several individuals responsible for the attack are already in custody, and all others involved have been identified and are currently being pursued by authorities.
Although Moscow has not responded directly to these specific allegations, Russian officials have consistently denied involvement in sabotage efforts across Europe.
The Marywilska shopping centre fire, one of the most destructive incidents in Poland’s recent history, prompted a year-long investigation. The findings, released by Poland’s justice and interior ministries, claim the arson was “organised and directed by a specific person residing in the Russian Federation.” Officials also revealed ongoing cooperation with Lithuanian authorities, as some suspects involved had operated across both countries.
Lithuania has faced similar attacks, with prosecutors earlier this year accusing Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) of being behind an arson attack on a branch of Ikea in Vilnius in 2023. That incident prompted regional security concerns and supported Warsaw’s suspicions of a coordinated sabotage campaign.
Poland has experienced a wave of such incidents since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Polish officials have arrested and convicted several individuals allegedly working for Russian intelligence in a broader campaign of destabilization.
Authorities characterize these operations as “hybrid warfare”—a covert strategy in which hostile states deploy non-traditional, deniable tactics such as sabotage, cyberattacks, and propaganda to weaken adversaries. These acts, while damaging, often avoid triggering a full-scale military response due to the difficulty of directly attributing responsibility.
Prime Minister Tusk has emphasized that Russia’s aim is to punish and deter Western countries from supporting Ukraine in its ongoing war against Moscow’s aggression. NATO has echoed these sentiments, warning its members to remain vigilant against what it sees as deliberate Russian interference across the alliance.
In this context, the Marywilska fire has become a symbol of the invisible threats Poland faces. The blaze reduced the shopping complex to ashes, causing not only immense economic loss but also deep personal hardship for thousands of small business owners and employees.
Many of the traders at Marywilska belonged to Warsaw’s Vietnamese community, a group that had long found a foothold in Poland’s retail economy. In addition to losing merchandise and equipment, many vendors also lost important legal documents and large sums of money kept at the shopping centre due to fears of home burglaries.
The attack severely disrupted livelihoods and created widespread anxiety among immigrant communities and small traders. However, efforts to recover have been swift. Just three months after the fire, Marywilska’s owners opened a temporary facility to allow around 400 traders to resume their businesses.
By October 2024, a new alternative shopping centre was opened at Modlinska 6D in Warsaw. This site offered displaced vendors a new home and marked the beginning of a gradual return to normalcy. Still, for many, the trauma of losing their life’s work to politically motivated sabotage lingers.
As Poland strengthens its internal security and deepens cooperation with European partners like Lithuania, officials remain committed to holding all perpetrators accountable. The investigation into the Marywilska fire is a stark reminder of the new forms of conflict reshaping Europe—a conflict where cyberattacks and arson have replaced tanks and missiles as tools of war.
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