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.
A group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers, including four senators and a member of the House of Representatives, will travel to Poland, India, Germany, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates to garner support for Ukraine.
“This strong congressional delegation will have the opportunity to meet with U.S. military leadership and troops in Poland in order to learn how the U.S. can continue to support Ukraine and our NATO allies against Russia’s unprovoked and unwarranted war,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement, according to The Hill.
“In addition, the delegation will meet with a number of key foreign leaders in Poland, UAE, India, Nepal, and Germany to strengthen ties during this period of heightened global tension,” the congressmen said.
Other senators making the trip with Kelly are Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-MA), along with Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), the lone House member.
GERMANY, INDIA, NEPAL, POLAND, SUPPORT, U.S. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS, UAE, UKRAINE
Passenger traffic from the EU countries and Moldova to enter Ukraine on April 16 for the first time since the start of the war by Russia exceeded the flow to exit, the State Border Service of Ukraine reports. The day before, for the first time since February 24, a similar fact was recorded on the Polish-Ukrainian section of the border.
According to the agency on Facebook, on April 16, a record high number of people again entered Ukraine – more than 38 thousand compared to more than 36 thousand the day before, including Ukrainians – 35 thousand compared to 32 thousand on Friday.
At the same time, the flow in the opposite direction decreased to more than 32,000 from almost 38,000 a day earlier.
The agency also clarified that over the past day, the number of registered vehicles with humanitarian cargo increased to 500 from 420-425 in the previous two days.
According to the data of the Polish border service on Twitter, on April 16, 22 thousand entered Ukraine from the country against 25.1 thousand the day before.
In the opposite direction, the flow amounted to 19.2 thousand, which is 21% less than on April 15, and over the first 7 hours of Sunday it fell by another 22.5% to 4.2 thousand.
According to UNHCR data, as of 13:00 on April 15, a total of 4.84 million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war (excluding the entry flow), of which Poland received 2.74 million, Romania and Moldova – 797.31 thousand, Russia – 484.73 thousand, Hungary – 454.1 thousand, Slovakia – 332.71 thousand, Belarus – 22.83 thousand.
Federal Minister of Digital Technologies and Transport of Germany Volker Wissing says that the flow of refugees from Ukraine has significantly decreased and stressed that the German state does not intend to impose any restrictions on the admission of Ukrainian refugees.
“The number of refugees traveling to Germany by train has dropped significantly from its peak at the beginning of the war, from around 8,200 to the current around 2,500 people a day. However, we maintain logistical and transport structures because we cannot predict the course of the war at any moment may face an increase in the number of refugees. We must expect further escalation and be prepared. Those in need in Ukraine should be able to find asylum in Germany,” Wissing said in an interview with the German Editorial Network (RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland, RND).
When asked if there is an upper limit for accepting refugees from Ukraine, the minister replied: “This question does not arise. Germany cannot and will not reject refugees from Ukraine.”
He also noted that Germany is working on accepting Ukrainian refugees who were previously settled in the EU countries neighboring Ukraine, and is also working to ensure that other EU countries are involved in this, recalling that a number of Polish cities have reached the limit of their capacity to accommodate Ukrainians.
“We quickly became convinced that people traveling from Ukraine could be transported from Poland to Germany. There are distribution centers in Hannover, Cottbus and Berlin…. If there is a threat of congestion in neighboring Ukrainian countries, we must again campaign for their distribution throughout the EU .I am in constant contact with my European colleagues,” Wissing said.
Asked about his attitude to the energy embargo against Russia, the minister noted that Germany “very quickly launched a comprehensive package of sanctions together with its European partner countries and the United States, but the impact on our society must also be taken into account when deciding on sanctions.” “Nothing would be more beneficial to Mr. Putin than if we took action that would lead to a quarrel and ultimately divide our society,” he stressed.
“Germany is very aware of its role and acts responsibly. We avoid acting alone and act in close coordination with our European partners,” Wissing concluded.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the attraction of concessional funds from the Japanese government in the amount of 13 billion yen (about $103.75 million at the current exchange rate), Prime Minister Denys Shmygal announced.
“Today, at a government meeting, we finalized agreements with the government of Japan to raise aid in the amount of 13 billion yen,” Shmygal said in his address on Friday evening.
According to him, these preferential funds will be used to finance the priority needs of the country and the Ukrainian people.
South Korea plans to provide Ukraine with an additional 2 billion won ($1.6 million) in non-lethal aid this month, Yonhap News has reported, citing an informed source.
According to the source, Seoul is preparing to start sending items such as bulletproof vests, helmets, medical supplies and ready-to-eat food to Ukraine as early as next week.
South Korea plans to phase out new aid on civilian flights to Europe until the end of April.
Seoul already sent 1 billion won in aid last month.
