Ms. Kipping, you were not a Putin fan, unlike some others in the Left Party.

Were you surprised by Russia's invasion of Ukraine?

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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I was afraid that after the end of the Olympic Games in Beijing he would start hostilities, but not that he would attack all of Ukraine.

As for the raid and the ruthless killing of civilians, I have to say that Putin has agreed with his harshest critics.

As Berlin Senator for Social Affairs, you are concerned with the consequences of this war.

Many thousands of refugees arrive in Berlin every day.

Hundreds of volunteers are doing their best, but things are still quite chaotic.

Has Berlin underestimated this challenge?

No.

But we had no lead.

Around 10,000 people a day arrive in Berlin by bus and train.

That's ten times what we had to deal with every day at the peak in 2015.

The state of Berlin accommodates at least 1000 to 1500 people every day.

We usually have this number in a month.

The volunteers and administrative staff do everything they can every day to offer enough accommodation.

They do so at a time of double interregnum.

Because the refugees entered the country without a visa and can move around freely.

And the other federal states only accept refugees voluntarily, as long as the federal government does not make the distribution binding.

We hope that will happen by the weekend.

Does it make sense to distribute the refugees across Germany?

Yes absolutely.

This distribution is important so that people are well accommodated.

Many communities are willing to take in refugees, they are waiting for them to arrive.

However, it should be taken into account in the distribution process if refugees have already found accommodation with relatives.

How many refugees do you expect in the coming days and weeks?

It depends on how the war goes on.

If a quarter of the population in Ukraine left the country as a result of Putin's war, that would be around ten million people.

Poland soon welcomed two million people in a great act of solidarity.

It may well be that at some point Poland will reach the limits of what the country can achieve.

So we have to expect a sharp increase in refugees.

And be prepared for it.

is that us

We do everything for it.

But there's something else: we're talking about people who are going through a terrible fate.

Among them are many who have special needs.

I mean sick people, people who are very pregnant, people with disabilities, and also people who suffer from old age dementia – we have to do justice to them too.

Berlin has complained about the lack of help from the federal government.

What do you specifically expect?

The Bund has now awakened.

We got 20 employees from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) for the arrival center in Reinickendorf.

Soldiers will help us in the reception center at the former Tegel Airport.

In the meantime, special trains with refugees are also being routed around Berlin.

I wish that even more for the future.

We also need nationwide logistics for the onward journey, because we cannot drive tens of thousands of people to their new destinations throughout Germany using only Berlin buses and bus drivers.

In addition, I would like help from social law not to go through the social welfare offices of the districts, but directly through the job centers.