“About 700,000 refugees from Ukraine have already been registered in the PESEL system; women and children account for 96% of them”, said Paweł Szefernaker, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration. He added that voivodes (the government representants) allocated PLN 400 million to local governments for helping refugees. 

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, i.e. on February 24, 2.5 million people have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border. In accordance with the regulations, they may submit applications for a PESEL number. Thanks to PESEL numbers, refugees can start work, continue their education and use the health care system. 

The deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration (MSWiA) said that local governments received money to help refugees. Also, the payments for private individuals will soon begin. 

“At the moment, we are compensating the funds spent by local governments in the first weeks of aid to war refugees from Ukraine. The voivodes have allocated PLN 400 million to local governments”, said Szefernaker and added that the procedure is being continued. 

“Those amounts are not all that should be paid out at the moment but they are paid on a regular basis. As long as all kinds of procedural issues are settled, these funds are paid immediately. This will be continued in the coming months”, announced the deputy head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration 

Szefernaker, the government’s plenipotentiary for war refugees from Ukraine, assured that all additional tasks of local governments resulting from the influx of war refugees from Ukraine will be financed by the state. 

“Within a week, we will be able to provide specific data on the payment of the first funds for Poles who sheltered refugees from Ukraine”, announced the deputy minister. 

Arkadiusz Słomczyński