Elżbieta Witek made the remark at a media briefing on Wednesday while hosting a group of top women lawmakers from across Europe and Ukraine, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
'Attempt to obliterate a nation'
Before taking her guests to the Polish-Ukrainian border, Witek told reporters that Russia’s invasion was “Putin’s fight … against an entire nation, an attempt to obliterate a nation.”
She said that Ukraine was in constant need of humanitarian aid.
“The world must realise that aid must be systemic … it must flow continuously,” she added.
Witek said she and her fellow top women lawmakers would visit the Polish-Ukrainian border in Dorohusk, as well as support centres for those fleeing the Russian invasion into Poland.
‘Semblance of normalcy for refugees’
“We’ll meet Ukrainian families because you have to be as close to this conflict as possible to be able to provide better assistance,” the Polish parliamentary Speaker said.
Sh added the talks would focus on how to create “a semblance of normalcy” for Ukrainian refugees in Poland and the whole European Union, from accommodation to education for children and job opportunities for adults.
“These are enormous challenges,” Witek said.
She told reporters she would brief her guests on Poland’s efforts to welcome refugees from Ukraine “and on how the government, charities, ordinary citizens and the Catholic Church have joined forces.”
Follow-up meeting in two weeks
Witek said that the top women lawmakers had pledged to speak to their presidents and prime ministers on what needs to be done to further help Ukraine.
She added that two weeks after the in-person gathering, she would hold an online follow-up meeting “to hear about my colleagues’ progress.”
Witek welcomed the opportunity to meet with her fellow female parliament heads, calling it “an excellent format,” the PAP news agency reported.
She said that women “like to reach their goals fast and effectively,” adding that she and her guests were “better able to put ourselves in the shoes of Ukrainian women.”
Besides visiting the border crossing in Dorohusk, Europe’s top female lawmakers were due to travel to a welcome centre for refugees in the eastern Polish city of Chełm and a humanitarian relief facility near the capital Warsaw.
Later in the day, they were scheduled to meet for talks in the Sejm, the lower house of Poland's parliament.
The two-day meeting, which began on Tuesday, features top women lawmakers from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Spain.
Also attending are the deputy Speaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, Olena Kondratiuk, and the vice-president of the European Parliament, Heidi Hautala.
Wednesday is day 56 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Poland on Wednesday reported it had welcomed 2.86 million refugees fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP