When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, Polish farmer Miroslaw Halej wanted to help refugees who flooded across the border near the village where he lives in eastern Poland.
His sympathy has since given way to resentment that some of the people who arrived from Ukraine appear to be prospering while Poland's farmers worry about their own future, especially as Kyiv pursues membership of the European Union.
Joining the EU soon is an important aim for Ukraine as it tries to complete its exit from Moscow's orbit, but there is scepticism in the wealthy bloc of 450 million people about Kyiv's prospects of achieving that goal.
But in conversations with Reuters, more than a dozen diplomats and officials from EU states were privately cautious, pointing to formidable obstacles that Kyiv and the EU will have to overcome before Ukraine can join.
