The international community is preparing to soon receive refugees and displaced persons from the war in Ukraine, in a figure that the UN places between one million and five million people.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is already preparing contingency plans “for the departure of a population of one to three million people to Poland, and one to five million considering all neighboring countries,” said the director. Unicef regional office for Europe and Central Asia, Afshan Khan.
Everything will depend on the evolution of the armed conflict in Ukraine after the Russian invasion, but the UNHCR representative specified that it has been decided to reactivate the plan that was launched in the face of the refugee crisis that shook Europe between 2015 and 2016, in that occasion as a result of the war in Syria.
The reports that reach that Agency speak that approximately 5,000 people have crossed from Ukraine to neighboring Moldova, while the flight of Ukrainians to Poland, Romania and Slovakia is also being observed.
Solidarity needed
Khan advanced that UN humanitarian agencies will have to provide aid not only to refugees leaving Ukraine, but also to families displaced within the country.
The UN counts on the solidarity of neighboring countries and that they keep their borders open for refugees from Ukraine, “including those who are not likely to receive migrant families and children,” he said.
First steps
The Romanian government eliminated this Friday the mandatory quarantine by COVID-19 for all people who enter its territory from Ukraine, after thousands of Ukrainians from the border areas sought shelter in Romania on Thursday in the face of the armed invasion by Russia .
The measure will also benefit those displaced Ukrainians who enter Romania through the neighboring Republic of Moldova.
For its part, the Polish government has set up eight refugee reception centers along its border with Ukraine and has set up help lines, and this Friday it provided information on its website for Ukrainians arriving in Poland.
As stated by the Polish government spokesman, Stanislaw Zaryn, to the Polish radio station Radio Plus, during Thursday the arrival of some 29,000 people was recorded at the Polish border from Ukraine, “approximately half of whom had already planned to arrive since before the war,” he said.
And Moldova also showed its willingness to welcome all Ukrainian refugees who arrive in the country fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Although in the coming days the flow of people from Ukraine grows, we will receive all those who ask us for help,” said the country’s president, the reformist and pro-Western Maia Sandu, in a televised address to the nation.
He added that, in the last 24 hours, more than 16,000 people have entered Moldova from Ukraine.
From the other side of the Atlantic, the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, has expressed her willingness to receive Ukrainian refugees, amid calls from host organizations to the US government to offer shelter to those fleeing the war.
Europe says ready
The vice president of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Suica, assured this Friday that the European Union (EU) “is ready” to deal with the refugee crisis in Ukraine, with “many neighboring countries” willing to welcome them.
In addition, EU interior ministers will hold an emergency meeting this weekend to discuss issues related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, French Minister Gérald Darmanin announced.
His colleague from Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, assured that the possible reception of refugees caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be discussed at that meeting.
Source: Gestion
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