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Poland deserves Nobel Peace Prize for helping Ukraine: US ambassador

28.09.2022 15:00
The US ambassador to Warsaw has said that Poland deserves to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the support it has provided to war-torn Ukraine and its people. 
Mark Brzezinski.
Mark Brzezinski.PAP/Andrzej Lange

Mark Brzezinski made the statement in an interview with the Polish state news agency PAP on Tuesday.

The US envoy said, as translated by PAP: “In Poland, we have seen a rapid mobilisation of the Polish people to help refugees in the face of their mass exodus” from war-torn Ukraine."

Brzezinski added: “No one will be able to ignore what the Polish people have done, how much they have mobilised themselves, how much they have helped by giving every refugee a roof over their head and a meal,” according to PAP’s translation.

‘This deserves Nobel Peace Prize’

“I certainly believe this deserves the Nobel Peace Prize,” the US ambassador declared, as translated by PAP.

Brzezinski said that as an envoy to Poland, he may be “a little biased,” according to PAP’s translation. 

“But I can say on behalf of all Americans that we are enormously touched by the selflessness and magnificence of the Polish people, who have helped refugees” from Ukraine, he stated, as translated by PAP. 

The US ambassador also said that now was “an incredibly important moment in the history of the Polish country,” according to PAP’s translation.

In Brzezinski’s view, the willingness of the Polish people to help Ukraine and its refugees “gives hope for a wide-reaching renewal of the country, for the awakening of its potential to thrive, precisely thanks to this rapid mobilisation,” as translated by PAP.   

‘Poland has a national policy to take all refugees from Ukraine’

In April, Brzezinski told the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera that “Poland has a national policy to take all the refugees coming in from Ukraine and put them into people’s houses and apartments.”

The US ambassador emphasised: “Never before has a nation done that with refugees arriving at its border.”

Poland’s support of Ukraine and war refugees

Poland has taken in more than 6.61 million refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Polish Border Guard agency reported on Wednesday.

A deputy interior minister said earlier this month that Poland was home to some 1.3 million Ukrainians after many refugees fleeing  the Russian assault decided to return to their country.

Meanwhile, Poland's government said in late June that its military assistance to Ukraine had surpassed EUR 1.8 billion.

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 education, healthcare and social benefits.

Eighty-one percent of Poles are in favour of accepting refugees from war-torn Ukraine, according to a recent survey.

Wednesday is day 217 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAPtvp.info