EU state rings alarm over Ukrainian refugees

Poland is expecting a new wave of migrants in the autumn, amid polls suggesting shifting attitudes towards them

Poland must prepare for another wave of refugees from Ukraine in the coming months, a top official within the Polish Interior Ministry has warned, citing the ongoing conflict and approaching colder temperatures.

Among EU countries, Poland hosts the second-largest number of people from Ukraine after Germany. As of late May, over 953,000 Ukrainian refugees were staying in the country, according to data from the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

“We have clear signals that a large influx of Ukrainian people may be possible in the autumn and winter. We need to be prepared for a temporary influx of this population,” Dariusz Marczynski, director of the Department of Population Protection and Crisis Management at the Interior Ministry, told a meeting on migration in the lower house of the Polish Parliament on Wednesday, as quoted by news agency PAP.

Marczynski cited “Russia’s attacks on energy, heating and transport infrastructure” as the reason for the expected spike in migration.

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EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said previously that 70% of Ukraine’s power generation capacity had been destroyed, predicting that the situation will worsen in winter. 

Russia has repeatedly insisted that it does not strike civilian targets, and that all strikes carried out by the Russian military are aimed exclusively at military targets and related infrastructure facilities.

Ukraine’s energy sector has been under strain in recent weeks due to a record heat wave that resulted in hours-long rolling blackouts. 

Electricity provider Ukrenergo said in a Telegram post on Thursday that the power deficit in the country had decreased, thanks to milder weather and an increase in power production from solar and nuclear power plants.

The power supply situation may actually be better in the winter than during this summer’s heat wave, the director of the Kiev-based Energy Research Center, Aleksandr Kharchenko, told local media earlier this week. Some power generating capacity may be restored by winter, he said.

READ MORE: Poles want benefits slashed for Ukrainian refugees – survey

A recent poll has suggested that support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland is dwindling, as a growing number of Poles are worried about the impact of the influx on the country’s finances.

According to the survey in June by the University of Warsaw and the University of Economics and Humanities in Warsaw, only 17% of Poles would accept Ukrainian refugees with the possibility of long-term residence, a decrease from 37% more than a year ago. The vast majority of Poles, 95%, believe that social benefits to refugees should be reduced.