Paweł Szefernaker, the Polish government’s commissioner for war refugees from Ukraine, said on Wednesday: “Some 2 million Ukrainians are currently staying in Poland; among them, some 1.5 million or 1.6 million will want to stay for longer.”
Szefernaker told private broadcaster Polsat News that some Ukrainians were crossing the border to shop in Poland, a long-term trend that has continued since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
“Then there are those who treat Poland as a transit country on the way elsewhere - to the United States, Canada, or Britain, for example,” he added.
100,000 refugees from Ukraine take jobs in Poland
Meanwhile, close to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have already taken jobs in Poland under special wartime regulations, Szefernaker said.
At the same time, up to 600,000 people displaced by the war are being hosted by Polish families, who receive daily allowance from the government for the purpose, he added.
Szefernaker, who is also a deputy interior minister, told Polsat News that Poland was "drawing up plans for a potential new influx of refugees if Russia escalates its aggression against Ukraine."
Thursday is day 64 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Poland, a country of some 38 million, reported it had admitted 2.98 million refugees fleeing Russia's war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wydarzenia.interia.pl, Polsat News