Poland extends temporary protection for Ukrainians until March 2025

This was reported by Radio Liberty.

The government of the country said that it was a matter of extending the validity of temporary protection certificates. They pointed out that this mechanism, launched by an implementing decision of the EU Council in March 2022, initially for one year, was extended for the next year, until 4 March 2025.

Ukrainian refugees in the EU

In January this year, the UN reported that the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe was approaching 8 million.

As of May 2023, four million Ukrainian citizens who fled after Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022 were granted temporary protection in the European Union, of whom about 700,000 are working and another 450,000 are studying at schools and universities.  

• On June 20, Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that more than 8 million Ukrainians had become refugees. Of these, more than 5 million have applied for temporary resident status in neighbouring Western European countries.  
• On September 13, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced further assistance to Ukrainian refugees in the EU. On September 19, the European Commission proposed to extend temporary protection for Ukrainians. In a month, the EU countries approved the extension until March 2025.
• On January 12, Eurostat reported that 4.27 million Ukrainian citizens had been granted temporary protection in the EU as of the end of November 2023. More than 20% of them are men. Germany (more than 1.2 million people; 28.9% of the EU total), Poland (almost 1 million; 22.3%) and the Czech Republic (370,000; 8.6%) received the most Ukrainian refugees.