Overnight, refugees began queuing at Warsaw’s National Stadium to obtain their PESEL identification cards. These cards will allow them to live, work, attend school, and receive social benefits for the next 18-months. Despite the simplified process being simplified by Polish authorities, many refugees were still told to return the next day.
Kateryna Lohvyn (30 years old) said, “We are looking to find a job now.” She was standing with her mother and added that it took some time for the shock from the Russian invasion to subside.
She added, “We don’t know yet (what to do),” “But, we are grateful to the Poles. They are so welcoming.”
Maryna Liashuk stated that she feels at home in Poland thanks to the warm welcome. Liashuk stated that she would prefer to remain permanently in Poland with her family if the situation gets worse.
“If there’s a place to go, and the war is over, we’ll do it. Liashuk said that if the war ends, we will simply stay here.
More than 2,000,000 Ukrainian refugees have been accepted by Poland to date — this is the bulk of the more than 3.3million people who fled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2014. Many thousands more have fled to Romania, Slovakia, Moldova, and Hungary.
Because men between 18 and 60 years old are prohibited from leaving Ukraine, most of the people fleeing Ukraine are women and children. However, they have remained to fight.
Polish officials claimed that more than 123,000 refugees received their ID numbers since Wednesday’s launch of the program, including over 1,000 per day in Warsaw.
Svetlana is a Ukrainian woman living in Ivano-Frankivsk. She has been living and working in Poland for more than 10 years. She believes that receiving the Polish ID numbers will make all of Ukraine’s lives easier.
Svetlana stated, “This is so important for us that we can officially search for work, send our children to school, and be active here,” It really changes how we feel here.
A one-time benefit of 300 Zlotys ($70) per refugee can be received, and a monthly benefit of 500 Zlotys ($117) for each child aged under 18. People who are able to find work will be taxed in the same way as Polish workers.
Pavlo Masechko (17 years old) is from Novovolynsk, in the Volyn region in western Ukraine. He has been trying to rebuild his life since moving to Rzeszow, in southeastern Poland. Masechko originally planned to go to Poland to study after high school. But, he said that being forced from his homeland by war is something entirely different.
Masechko said that it is very stressful to have to leave your country at this time. He has been attending a school in Poland ever since he arrived. Masechko’s Ukrainian teacher wants to arrange classes online after classes were suspended by Russia.
“When the situation began, it was difficult for me to concentrate on other things. He said that the situation has become more stable over time and is now easier to focus on other things. “I have refocused my attention on other aspects of my life.”
Many Ukrainian refugees have moved to Europe to be with family and friends. Some have decided to return home even though the end of the conflict seems far away.
Viktoria, 41 years old, was one of them. She was waiting with Alisa, her teenage daughter Alisa on Saturday to board a train to Zhitomyr in central Ukraine.
Viktoria said, “For the past five days it’s been quiet.” “Our local authorities were good. They provided everything so that we could return to work and live a normal life. Our children can also have access to online education.
Alisa stated that she is not afraid of returning and would like to reunite her family, who are still in Ukraine.
She said, “My relatives are there.”