1.5 million Ukrainians have legal status in Poland - Ambassador Zvarych

This was stated by the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, in an interview with Espreso TV. 

"Statistics are kept by the Polish authorities regarding those citizens of Ukraine who arrived here after February 24 and issued PESEL (Universal Electronic System of Population Registration, - ed.). There are about 1.5 million such citizens of Ukraine. Data from the Polish government indicate that more than 500,000 citizens of Ukraine who arrived are of productive age. These are those who can be employed. Of them, more than 300,000 are working legally", he said.

Zvarych emphasized that the adopted legislative settlement allows Ukrainians who arrived here after February 24 and received a PESEL to enjoy the same rights and privileges as Polish citizens.

"This applies to legal employment, education in schools and higher education institutions, and free medical care. This is a huge manifestation of solidarity with the Ukrainian people. It is important that it responded with a kind of gesture of solidarity of the people of Ukraine with regard to those Poles who currently live or plan to come to Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada recently approved the law on the status of Poles, which effectively equates the rights of citizens of Poland and Ukraine", he added.

According to Zvarych, there should be more such initiatives and joint projects.

"These are the bricks that we are laying in our common foundation, on which we will build a true brotherhood. We are no longer talking about a partnership, not about a strategic partnership, but about the brotherhood of two peoples", he concluded.