The money is being channelled through the state-run Klymentiy Sheptytsky Fund, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Tuesday.
The first benefits were disbursed in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv at the start of this week, with over 1,700 children and 140 women expected to receive assistance by the end of 2022, according to officials.
At Monday's ceremony to launch the programme, Polish deputy lower-house Speaker Małgorzata Gosiewska said: “We are providing this aid because many times in our history we have experienced barbarity and we couldn't always count on the help of our neighbours.”
She added: “And so we are all the more determined to be involved, because we know that through such involvement we are building new relationships, a new future in Polish-Ukrainian relations.”
Poland’s Sheptytsky Fund has teamed up with Ukraine’s Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories to oversee the project, officials said.
'Poland has shown the whole world how to work, live and fight together'
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who is in charge of the ministry, thanked the government and people of Poland, saying at the ceremony in Kyiv: “This assistance and solidarity are very important to us. It’s something you remember for the rest of your life.”
She added: “This is a story that we are writing together, and Poland has shown the whole world how to work, live and fight together.”
“I thank you very much on behalf of all of us, all Ukrainians,” Vereshchuk said, addressing the Polish delegation.
One of the first recipients of the benefits from the Polish programme is a Ukrainian servicewoman who had fought in defence of the strategic port city of Mariupol against invading Russian forces, the PAP news agency reported.
The servicewoman, named Anastasia, told reporters: “I am very grateful for this help. When I was released from a Russian detention centre and returned to Ukraine, I didn’t really expect to receive anything."
Another woman, who lost her husband in the battle of the Donbas and is now a single mother raising a six-year-old son, said: “This money means a lot to us.”
Scholarships for children, support for women
Rafał Dzięciołowski, a Polish official in charge of the Klymentiy Sheptytsky Fund, told the PAP news agency: “The programme is designed to provide financial support as well as psychological help and rehabilitation to children orphaned by the war. This applies mainly to families of soldiers, but also civilian ones, as well as women released from Russian captivity.”
He said: “This year we’ll pay out scholarships to 1,780 children and provide support to 140 women released from Russian detention.”
Children stand to receive a monthly sum of PLN 780 (EUR 166), while women are eligible for a one-off allowance of up to PLN 10,000 (EUR 2,100), Dzięciołowski added.
Tuesday is day 265 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wnp.pl, sheptytskyfund.pl