International reporting
Poland: refugees from Ukraine continue to arrive day after day
Audio 02:36
Ukrainian refugees are massed on the hall of the central station in Warsaw, March 9, 2022. REUTERS - KACPER PEMPEL
By: Sarah Bakaloglou Follow
3 mins
They are more than one million five hundred thousand to have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and thousands of them arrive in the central station of Warsaw, before remaining in Poland or continuing their journey in another country.
Poland is therefore on the front line of this humanitarian crisis and the major Polish cities, increasingly under pressure in the face of this influx of refugees, are calling for help.
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From our correspondent in Warsaw,
In front of Warsaw Central Station, tents have been erected and offer water and food.
A few meters away, Masha and Nastia, two Ukrainian sisters, have just arrived from Kiev.
“
We didn't want to leave Kiev, but the situation was getting more and more difficult.
We only took what we could, that is to say no clothes, all I'm wearing there, that's all I have.
»
About 300,000 Ukrainians arrived in Warsaw.
Refugees who increasingly have no contact or family in Poland, unlike those of the first days.
The confusion is therefore complete.
At Central Station, dozens of volunteers are busy.
Since the start of the war, an unprecedented outpouring of solidarity has taken place in Poland.
Help for refugees relies on volunteers and NGOs
“
We have set up hot food, but it is thanks to our contacts, these are restaurants and caterers that I know and who come to help for free.
But I would like money to pay them and have them produce more, and I would like them to be paid by the government.
We volunteers, we want to help, but we don't have enough strength and energy to do it for another two or three weeks.
We need a system that works
,” explains Michal Wilczenli, a 38-year-old volunteer.
Among the volunteers, the NGOs and the municipalities, on which the aid to the refugees is largely based, many voices are therefore being raised to ask the Polish State to do more and to criticize the government's recent remarks happy to not have to build refugee camps, thanks to the solidarity of the population.
Indeed, the cities of Warsaw and Krakow among others have warned that they are reaching saturation point in terms of accommodation.
But for Jakub Czajowski, volunteer coordinator of the donation warehouse at the station, for the state to put in place a widespread response, international support is needed.
A law currently being considered by Parliament
"
In Poland, with all the goodwill of the volunteers, of all the institutions, whether at government level or at local authority level, we are not able to absorb 5 million Ukrainians in 15 days and build houses for them.
Today, it is essentially based on the solidarity of the Poles.
he details.
It's great, but it has to last and for it to last, you need help from the European Union or the UN.
»
A law is currently being examined by Parliament to legalize the stay of Ukrainians in Poland for 18 months and allow them access to social aid, the labor market or even schools.
The law also provides for giving 8 euros per day to institutions or individuals who host refugees.
A sum far too insufficient, according to the municipalities.
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Poland
Ukraine
Refugees
Russia