Ylva Johansson arrived at the facility alongside Warsaw Deputy Mayor Michał Olszewski on Thursday, the state news agency PAP reported.
She came to Poland “to take stock of the situation of large displacement the country is facing and discuss how the European Union and member states can continue to support Poland,” officials told reporters.
At a briefing at the refugee centre, Johansson lauded the people of Poland and Warsaw for providing “extraordinary help” to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, saying it made her “really proud of being European.”
Poland to get EUR 2 bn for refugee support from EU
Johansson announced that Poland would receive EUR 2 billion from the EU for refugee support, “including childcare, housing and healthcare.”
She added that this week Brussels had disbursed a further advance payment of EUR 560 million to Poland “for the immediate needs that need to be covered due to the refugee crisis.”
Johansson also said that “additional money will be available in a few weeks,” the PAP news agency reported.
Meeting Polish government officials earlier in the day, Johansson said: “Providing education and health care [to refugees from Ukraine] is a priority now. Poland does an impressive job.”
The commissioner also told reporters that in the face of Vladimir Putin’s “unprecedented war” against Ukraine, European citizens were showing “unprecedented solidarity,” while the EU displayed an “unprecedented ability to act in unity, quick and strong.”
320,000 Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw: deputy mayor
Meanwhile, Warsaw’s Olszewski, who accompanied Johansson during her visit to the refugee transit centre, urged the EU’s executive, the European Commission, to remember that “assistance is needed at the level of cities, charities and civil society, who are bearing the brunt of helping our friends from Ukraine.”
Olszewski told reporters that more than 320,000 war refugees were now staying in the Warsaw area, meaning that the city would have to build “thousands of new flats and several new schools,” the PAP news agency reported.
Friday is day 65 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Poland has taken in 3 million refugees fleeing Russia's war on Ukraine, the Polish Border Guard agency reported on Thursday.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, ec.europa.eu