Andrzej Duda made the appeal after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
At a joint news conference with the Turkish leader, the Polish president said that the number of refugees who have arrived in Poland was approaching 2 million.
It’s “an enormous challenge,” Duda said, adding: “We can safely say that we have a refugee crisis in our country.”
The Polish president warned: “If we don’t receive international support, we’ll be in a very difficult predicament.”
Duda thanked Erdogan for sharing Turkey’s experiences in receiving millions of refugees who have escaped from war-ravaged Syria in recent years.
‘Poland needs international support’
The Polish president appealed to the "whole international community" to help Poland.
“At the moment, we need this help badly,” he added.
Duda also thanked individuals and charities from Poland and around the world for welcoming refugees from Ukraine and providing them with various forms of support.
Referring to Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine, the Polish president said he hoped the international community would help rebuild Ukraine after the war.
“This is our big task, the task of the entire honest, democratic world, to support this process,” Duda said.
'We must do everything for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to be stopped'
He also thanked Erdogan for his efforts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“I am thankful for the contribution that Turkey is making today for peace to return to Ukraine,” the Polish head of state said.
“There is no doubt that we must do everything for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to be stopped and for Russians to stop bombarding Ukrainian cities, towns, villages, killing civilians,” Duda told reporters.
Referring to his country's bilateral ties with Turkey, the Polish president stated that both he and Erdogan were seeking to facilitate Polish-Turkish trade so that its annual value would surpass EUR 10 billion, the PAP news agency reported.
Wednesday was day 21 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.
Poland on Wednesday reported it had admitted nearly 1.9 million refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP