A child eats cake as she stands in temporary accommodation for refugees at a train station, after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Przemysl, Poland, March 7, 2022. Photo/REUTERS/Yara Nardi
WARSAW – The largest refugee center for Ukrainians in Poland was suddenly closed this week. The Financial Times (FT) reported this on Friday (1/9/2023), citing the decision of the regional authority.
The move prompted the sudden relocation of hundreds of people, according to the paper.
The facility is located in a former fairground in the village of Nadarzyn, Mazovia region, just southwest of the Polish capital, Warsaw.
At the peak of the flow of Ukrainian refugees to Poland, the country hosted around 9,000 people, according to the FT.
By the spring of 2022, the number of residents had fallen to about 300 refugees, as people were relocated to other facilities.
Despite this, the facility remains the largest in Poland in terms of accommodation space.
The local government claims the refugee center is only temporary. “The facility was closed because the number of refugees from Ukraine arriving in Mazovia is negligible,” regional government spokeswoman Dagmara Zalewska said.
The local charity told the Financial Times that the closure came as a shock to them and the residents of the refugee centre.
“Some people don’t even have time to pack all their things. They gave food in bags and that was it,” Alina Oniszczuk, an aid worker at another refugee center in Warsaw, told FT.
2023-09-02 22:30:41
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