A 63-year-old Ukrainian man was hospitalized in Kraków, southern Poland, after attempting to set himself on fire outside his country’s consulate, Polish police said.
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Just before 8 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT), “the man was queuing outside the Ukrainian consulate as he shouted something in Ukrainian, pulled out a bottle with a flammable liquid, splashed it on himself and caught fire,” police spokesman Piotr Szpiech told AFP .
“A police officer on patrol and a witness put out the fire. The man was taken to the hospital in a serious condition and his life is in danger,” the spokesman added, without being able to say exactly what the man had shouted.
Initial media reports indicated that he was urging his compatriots to return to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
However, a witness later quoted by Polsat News television station said he did not mention the invasion of Ukraine, but rather personal complaints against the consulate for not giving him the help he deserved.