Pawel Szefernaker, Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister, confirmed that 100,000 people have crossed the border into Poland from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion this week
“From the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine until today, 100,000 people have crossed the border from Ukraine into Poland,” Szefernaker told reporters in the border village of Medyka, in southeastern Poland.
Tomasz Praga, the head of the Polish border guard, said at a press conference that nearly 50,000 people had crossed into Poland from Ukraine on Friday alone.
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Poland, which was already home to an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainians prior to Russia’s invasion and has consistently expressed its support for Ukraine, has received the majority of those fleeing Ukraine into its country.
“The most recent update is that nearly 116,000 people have fled to neighboring countries since February 24 — primarily to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania,” the UN refugee agency UNHCR tweeted on Saturday.
“Numbers are increasing,” it continued.
According to Szefernaker, 90% of the refugees have concrete places to go in Poland, such as friends’ or family’s homes, but the remainder are seeking assistance at nine reception centers set up along the border.
The centers provide meals and medical care, as well as a place to rest and any necessary information. Those refugees who have nowhere else to go are then bused to various accommodation options that Poland has pre-planned.
Separately, Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk announced on Saturday that “for the next four weeks, Ukrainian citizens will be able to ride trains operated by (Polish rail service) PKP Intercity for free.”
The 38 million-strong EU member has also prepared an ambulance train in the border city of Przemysl.
Michal Dworczyk, a Polish government official, stated that if and when necessary, the train will travel to the Ukrainian border city of Mostyska, pick up the injured, and transport them to Warsaw for hospital treatment.
“I hope we don’t have to use these railroad cars,” he said to reporters.
He went on to say that Poland is doing everything it can to assist its neighbor who is under attack.
“We’ve seen an incredible burst of solidarity among Poles in the last few days,” he said.
“I’ve yet to meet someone who didn’t want to help in some way.”
