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Polish PM opens new housing centres for war refugees in Ukraine

01.06.2022 13:30
Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday unveiled new temporary housing centres for internally displaced Ukrainians in the towns of Borodyanka and Bucha near the capital Kyiv.
Polands Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki opens a new temporary housing centre for Ukraines internal refugees in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki opens a new temporary housing centre for Ukraine's internal refugees in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. PAP/Viacheslav Ratynskyi

Opening the Polish-built facilities for over 1,000 refugees, Mateusz Morawiecki said that just three months ago Ukraine's Borodyanka "was a normal town.”

“This normal, idyllic life suddenly turned into hell - barbarians from Russia came and destroyed this normal life,” he told reporters.

Morawiecki said that Ukraine was fighting to "restore peace on its soil," but also "to restore peace and security in the entire Europe - because today we’re all living in the shadow of Russia’s barbaric, bestial attack.”

Polish-built temporary centres to house 20,000 refugees

He stressed that the new housing centres offered temporary accommodation, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

“May this temporary arrangement last as briefly as possible, hopefully we’ll restore normal life, normal conditions as soon as possible,” Morawiecki said.

His top aide Michał Dworczyk said in a tweet that the Polish-built temporary housing centres, dubbed “container towns,” would host 5,000 people in the Kyiv region and a total of 20,000 internal refugees in the whole of Ukraine.

Morawiecki told reporters that "if Ukraine were to fall, then nothing will be the same as before."

He called on the international community to “rebuild the political order so that Russia never threatens the peace of other countries again.”

Later on Wednesday, Morawiecki was due to lead a Polish governmental delegation at bilateral talks with members of the Ukrainian Cabinet in Kyiv, the PAP news agency reported.

Wednesday was day 98 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP