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Around 1.5 million Ukrainians in Poland: gov't official

13.06.2022 13:30
A government official said on Monday that Poland was now home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians after many refugees from Russia's invasion of Ukraine returned to their country in the last few weeks.
Błażej Poboży
Błażej PobożyMSWiA/Twitter

"We estimate that up to 1.5 million Ukrainians are currently staying in Poland," Deputy Interior Minister Błażej Poboży said.

He told public broadcaster Polish Radio that in recent weeks the number of Ukrainian citizens leaving Poland and heading back home has been larger than the number of refugees coming into the country.

This is chiefly because "the situation in northern Ukraine has calmed down, combined with travel for family reasons," Poboży said.

During the last 110 days, Poland has taken in 4.02 million refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Polish Border Guard agency reported on Monday.

Since February 24, a total of 4,021,000 people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine," it said in a tweet.

On Sunday, around 21,500 refugees from Ukraine arrived in the country, compared with 24,900 a day earlieraccording to the Polish Border Guard.

Meanwhile, around 2 million people have left Poland for Ukraine since February 24, the agency has reported.

On Sunday, the number of those crossing from Poland into Ukraine approached 26,700, the Polish Border Guard said.

While most of the border crossers are Ukrainian nationals, there are also citizens of many other countries among the refugees, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported, citing the foreign ministry in Warsaw.

Poland in March enacted a measure to offer wide-ranging support to Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion of their country, which began on February 24.

The measure grants them residence rights and ensures access to educationhealthcare and social benefits.

Nine in 10 Poles are in favour of accepting refugees from war-torn Ukraine, according to a survey.

(gs)

Source: PAP