Humanitarian organisations are sounding the alarm that another wave of refugees from Ukraine will arrive in Europe as winter approaches.  According to the World Health Organisation, 10 million people in Ukraine are already without access to energy and heating as a result of Russian attacks.

“We must be ready, as well as the entire European Union, to accept refugees, if necessary,” Paweł Szefernaker, Secretary of State at the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, the government’s plenipotentiary for refugees from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kaminski said that a new wave of refugees could reach Poland due to energy problems in Ukraine or an escalation of military action. “The Russian aggressor is constantly bombarding Ukrainian power stations hoping that the lack of power will force the Ukrainians to surrender”, Kaminski said. He noted, however, that despite this situation, there has been no increased traffic at border crossings.

“Nevertheless, we know that this situation can change. That is why we are prepared for various scenarios, and at the same time we are actively helping refugees on the spot, in Ukraine”, added the head of the Interior Ministry.

Local governments and schools are also preparing to receive the next wave of refugees from Ukraine.

Deputy Minister of Education and Science Tomasz Rzymkowski was asked in an interview with Nasz Dziennik whether Polish schools are ready to receive the next wave of refugees from Ukraine.

“Yes, our schools are prepared. We have already taken applied measures much earlier. We were prepared for 400,000 Ukrainian children to be admitted to schools on 1 September 2022″, stated the deputy minister.

He pointed out that currently Poland hosts 190 thousand children from Ukraine in Polish schools. „This number is stable; it does not fluctuate much. We are ready to accept the same number of children”, added Rzymkowski.

Adrian Andrzejewski