Poland's Foreign Ministry doesn't rule out new wave of refugees from Ukraine: reason revealed

Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said this in an interview with Rzeczpospolita.

"We cannot exclude that the Russian offensive will lead to a shift in the front to the West and will cause millions of additional Ukrainians, mostly women and children, to arrive in Poland," the diplomat said.

He noted that a new wave of refugees could become a burden for Poland, but the country would not refuse to provide asylum to those fleeing the war.

"This would be a huge burden for our country, and Polish society should be ready for it. We have to be positive about it," said Szejna.

• EU countries have approved the extension of temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine until March 2025.
• According to Eurostat, as of the end of November 2023, 4.27 million Ukrainian citizens were granted temporary protection in the EU. Germany (1,235,960 people; 28.9% of the EU total), Poland (955,110; 22.3%) and the Czech Republic (369,330; 8.6%) received the largest number of Ukrainian refugees.