Text and photos by Monsi A. Serrano
There is no stopping Poland from welcoming the displaced Ukrainians into their country as they have more than 3.5 million Ukrainians starting their new life as the uncertainty of war continues.
As the first country in the European Union to open its door to the Ukrainians during the first salvo of the Russian invasion last February 24, Polish people instinctively started building their reception centers for the fleeing refugees by initially providing food, shelter and clothing. As months passed by, the Polish government and Polish citizens established a system to ensure that their Ukrainian neighbors will be able to start a new life by providing home, financial support, jobs and access to social services which include education, health services and medical needs.
This was also revealed by Ms. Barbara Szymanowska Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director of the Department of Asia and Pacific during a recent interview with her in Poland.
“You asked me about Ukraine and as you know that we gladly welcomed them and like within two months the majority of them found the places and homes from us Polish which is really interesting. It only shows that in difficult times, we show them solidarity,” Szymanowska said.
“We can share our homes (apartments), and I think that this is our nature and it’s like when we have visitors, we want to make sure they are all taken care of very well,” she said.
“The main point is that we will continue to take care of them and provide all the necessary support they need while they are in Poland. The people and the government have put a system in place to ensure legal stay, access to employment, education, health care and other social welfare schemes for Ukrainian refugees,” she added.
When asked what is the position of Poland on Russia’s aggression and what preparations the country is doing in case the war spills over to Poland which has an estimated distance of 1,203.5 kilometers away from Ukraine.
“You know, there is the fifth article which says that if any member of NATO is under attack, the rest (of the NATO) should respond and then it means that we will pave for a World War. And if Russia decides to attack Poland, all the NATO members will pick up us and we will fight with Russia. However, right now no one’s talking about this. First, we want to have not only peace, and it’s not about freezing the current situation. Other parts of the world want Russia back off because Ukraine is a sovereign country. No one is talking about Ukraine joining NATO and I think that at this point it won’t be very wise to have plans about this and NATO is a defense structure. It’s like we did our capacity to defend but not to attack,” Szymanowska explained.
The waging of the war of Russia against Ukraine has created a lot of havoc, but the other war on disinformation is something that the whole is also watching.
“As you probably know, you encountered a lot of the misinformation created by Putin’s propaganda machine. However, I think that everyone has access to verifiable sources. This is very important to watch also the disinformation.” she said.
“I think right now many are thinking about the end of the war, but frankly, speaking, it’s difficult to say that and in a onlookers’ perspective, we think about reconstruction of the (Ukraine) country, because if you had a chance to see it, it was really beautiful,’ she said.
“Vibrant city, full of life and fantastic. That is how I would describe Ukraine but now it is completely destroyed. And I think (when the war ends) the first step will be to reconstruct Ukraine and I believe that it’s going to be an international effort because you know, Ukraine cannot cope or recover just by themselves. So reconstruction efforts will be a high priority with the help of the world,” Szymanowska added.
With an estimated 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees living in Poland, there is still an ongoing humanitarian crisis that Poland continues to address. There are still a lot of people who found refuge in Poland. But at the same time, a lot of them wanted to go back to Ukraine. But the biggest challenge that Poland is addressing now is to be able to provide ample food medicine and other things that they need.
According to Minister Szymanowska, it was a big challenge for Poland to manage this kind of situation in a short time given the heterogeneity of the Ukrainian refugees coming to their country to seek refuge. Because the country has never experienced this massive influx of people entering their country to seek refuge.
She also noted that more than welcoming the Ukrainian refugees and provide them food, shelter and clothing, Poland sees the need for them to provide for the educational needs of the children, they need 20 new schools to accommodate them and provide quality education. But the good news is, majority of the children are already accommodated in the schools. But still, according to Szymanowska, these children go to school through zoom classes. But there are also refugees who wanted to have a job. They don’t want to be bothered, especially if someone provided a call and they wanted to talk and with some jobs.
Szymanowska also noted that it is not only Poland that welcomed the Ukrainian refugees, other neighboring countries like the Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary.
“The majority of the refugees want to stay close to the border because they believe that at some point they can go back (to Ukraine). Some of them will stay because we already had like 1 million before the war. One million Ukrainian citizens working in they were working in the transport sector, and construction sector, but also in their high professionals like I don’t know in the bank. So some of the refugees who have families here will probably stay here, but the majority of them want to go back to Ukraine. But the problem is where and how”, she revealed.
“Other small villages have no water. The weather is worse. They don’t have heating, they don’t have anything. And it’s like it’s not easy to decide if they could go back right now. So we expect that the situation will last for some time. We wanted to do anything we can to help those people and I think that they should feel safe here, and it is not going to be very difficult to live and start here in Poland,” she added.
Lastly, Minister Szymanowska expressed utmost gratitude for those who are willing to provide help to the Ukrainians from all other parts of the world. She said that they already received pledges and expect some contributions through international channels like the United Nations.