“According to the Polish border guard service, about 2 million people have crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border since the beginning of the war, that is, in a month. Now it is difficult to estimate the exact number of those who left the territory of Poland, but this can be understood by the amount of transport. We can say that about 1.5 million people remained in Poland. Another 1.5 million Ukrainians were in Poland before the start of the war. Thus, now there are about 3 million citizens of Ukraine in Poland,” Deshchytsia said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He stressed that the assistance provided to Ukrainian citizens in Poland deserves great gratitude and praise.
“Ordinary Polish citizens, literally from the first days of the war, went to checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border and met our citizens themselves, mostly women, children, the elderly, picked them up in their cars and took them to their homes,” Deshchytsia said.
According to him, there is also centralized assistance, which is very well organized.
“There is assistance both at the central and local government levels, as well as at the level of civil society. Non-governmental organizations, various foundations, volunteer organizations almost continuously provide assistance to Ukrainians,” the ambassador said.
Deshchytsia added that if we are talking about the level of state support, then at the initiative of the government and unanimous supra-party support in the Senate and the Sejm of Poland, a law on assistance to Ukrainians was adopted, helping the citizens of Ukraine to more easily adapt to the conditions in which they found themselves in Poland.
“Firstly, it allows them to stay in Poland legally for the next 18 months with the right to extend their legal stay in the country for another year and a half, and with the documents they arrived with. Secondly, this is a one-time financial assistance for each person, amounting to approximately PLN 300 [equivalent to $80-100]. Thirdly, it is an opportunity to speed up the employment procedure, the opportunity to receive the same social, medical, and pension benefits that the Poles have. To do this, however, you need to get a Polish identification code. Fourthly, this involves helping Ukrainian children to get them into educational institutions, kindergartens, as well as free education in higher educational institutions,” the Ukrainian ambassador explained.
The Belarusian embassy has been evacuated from Ukraine, Belarusian Ambassador in Kyiv Igor Sokol said.
“All financial accounts were blocked by the Ukrainian side, intolerable conditions were created, and there were threats of physical violence all the time. We were actually under siege, so the leadership, the Foreign Ministry of the country decided to evacuate the embassy,” Sokol said on the STV television channel.
“It was the last group of 11 employees and two family members to leave by seven cars via the corridor that was provided by the Ukrainian side, because they failed to provide security in the direction of the Republic of Belarus. We had to leave for the Republic of Moldova,” the ambassador said.
British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons announced that she is staying in Kyiv.
“I am staying in Kyiv and continue to work there with a core team. The embassy remains operational,” she said on Twitter on Saturday morning.
At the same time, the ambassador attached a message stating that British citizens who are in Ukraine “should leave Ukraine by commercial means.”
U.S. President Joe Biden intends to appoint Bridget Brink, who currently represents Washington in Slovakia, as the country’s ambassador to Ukraine, CNN said on Monday.
The appointment will take place when the Ukrainian side gives formal confirmation, the television channel said.
The United States has not had a permanent ambassador to Ukraine since 2019. At the moment, Kristina Kvien serves as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
Brink has been representing the United States in Slovakia since August 2019. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs from 2015 to 2018. She also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Uzbekistan (2014-2015) and Georgia (2011-2014).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree No.13/2022 on the appointment of a new Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania.
“To appoint Petro Ivanovych Beshta as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania,” the president said in the document released on its website.
Israeli diplomat Mykhailo Brodsky, who was appointed the new ambassador of Israel to Ukraine, presented copies of his credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Senyk.
“Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Mykhailo Brodsky presented copies of his credentials to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization Dmytro Senyk. The sides confirmed their mutual commitment to cooperation and partnership,” the Israeli diplomatic mission said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Earlier, it was reported new Israeli ambassador to Ukraine Mykhailo Brodsky arrived in the country. His appointment as Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine was approved by the Israeli government in July 2021.
