The Ministry of Social Policy says that since the introduction of martial law, more than two million people have registered as internally displaced persons.
“I know that now, when talking about internally displaced persons, they often talk about people who have moved after martial law. But the war has been going on for eight years, and the number of those who have been forced to leave their homes since 2014 and seek asylum in other regions of the country is higher. To date, the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons has information on 3.4 million people,” the ministry’s press service quotes the Minister of Social Policy.
It is noted that more than two million of them are people who were forced to move after the introduction of martial law.
According to the report, most people after the large-scale military invasion of Russia moved to Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions.
Most internally displaced persons are registered in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv regions.
The Ministry of Social Policy also reports that more than 225,000 people have registered as internally displaced persons through Diia.
During his visit to Lviv, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki opened a container town for 300-350 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and announced the construction of similar towns around Kyiv.
“We are doing everything to protect Ukrainian children and women. There will be more such towns, 300-350 people find shelter here. There will be 5,000 people in Lviv. Our envoys are going to cities around Kyiv and will construct the same towns,” the Office of the Polish Prime Minister said, citing Morawiecki on Twitter page on Tuesday.
In addition, the prime minister urged the European Commission to launch a solidarity fund for Ukraine. “I appeal to the European Commission to make the solidarity fund for Ukraine work and to have new money. There is nothing to wait. We cannot allow more crimes to be committed. Today, the sanctions should be as tough as possible,” Morawiecki said.
He said that wherever he met with the leaders, he points to the need for the most severe sanctions. “This is the lowest price we can pay to regain our freedom. I call on European leaders to abandon calculators and turn to their conscience,” the Polish prime minister said.
According to Morawiecki, already 10 million people in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes, of which 2.5 million people live in Poland, but 6 million are inside Ukraine.
About 90% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Donbas are ready to take part in Ukraine’s presidential elections, Head of the All-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas, Head of the Public Council under the Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and IDPs Henandiy Borisichev has said.
“We travel a lot around the country and hold many meetings with IDPs. At the end of each meeting we take a so-called sociological poll, based on the results of our meetings, I can say that about 90% of IDPs plan to take part in the elections,” he said at a press conference held at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday.
Borisichev said about 80-90% of IDPs have already received absentee ballots for voting in the presidential elections in Ukraine.
“Finally, our countrymen have realized that if they do not engage in politics, politics will deal with them, as happened in 2014,” he said.
Borisichev said the all-Ukrainian Platform of Donbas intends ask the top ten presidential candidates to sign on to a public statement pledging to help solve problems faced by IDPs.
The document will set out the candidate’s obligations regarding the support and funding of state programs for providing housing for IDPs, renewing the rights of pensioners from Donbas to pay Ukrainian pensions, ensuring the right of IDPs to take part in local elections, developing and implementing a comprehensive plan for restoring peace in Donbas and the development and adoption of a special law on compensation for victims of the war in Ukraine.
DONBAS, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS, PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, TAKE PART
