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Ethnic Poles evacuated from eastern Ukraine

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 24.11.2015 08:35
A group of 149 ethnic Poles from the region of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine has arrived in Poland.
Prime Minister Beata Szydło greets evacuees. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa Prime Minister Beata Szydło greets evacuees. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa

They were greeted at a military airfield in Malbork, northern Poland, in the late hours on Monday by Prime Minister Beata Szydło and Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz.

A provisional air border crossing point has been set up there to ensure smooth immigration procedures.

Welcome home!Prime Minister Szydło said.

Poland is your home.”

The prime minister assured the arrivals that her government will spare no effort in making them feel at home in Poland, and that the programme of bringing Poles from Ukraine to the land of their ancestors will continue.

In addition to the 149 people who arrived in four CASA military planes, 39 persons travelled by train and private cars. They all came from the regions which are controlled by the Russian-backed separatists, although the city of Mariupol itself is a heavily-defended outpost controlled by the Ukrainian government.

They are now at a refugee centre in Rybaki, near Olsztyn, northern Poland, where they will stay for six months, taking part in intensive Polish language courses. The centre is run by the Caritas Poland charity organization. Most of the evacuees are families with small children. After an initial adaptation period, they will be able to benefit from professional courses, with a view to being relocated in permanent places of residence which will be prepared by the local authorities.

In January, under the previous Polish government, 178 people of Polish descent from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine were brought to Poland. (mk/nh/rk)

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