Ukraine’s fight for freedom continues on the eleventh day since Russia invaded.
Ukrainian resistance is still holding, with Ukrainian forces pushing back a Russian advance in the southern port city of Mykolaiv early Sunday morning. Residents of the besieged city of Mariupol remain cut off from food, electricity, and heat, and three people were reportedly killed by shelling outside the capital of Kyiv yesterday.
Efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to open a humanitarian corridor in the region have repeatedly failed, with Moscow offering safe passage options only to Belarus or Russia.
Russian troops have reportedly destroyed or damaged 211 schools, according to the Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Szkarnet, with Poland and other EU states promising to pursue war crimes investigations.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, New York Times
In a joint press conference in Warsaw yesterday, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Deshchytsia thanked Poles and Poland for providing help to Ukraine and called for more military support.
In his comments, Deshchytsia described Poland as „a sister” to his besieged country, a relationship forged by a shared experience of Russian intimidation and aggression. Russia has historically portrayed itself as Ukraine’s “older brother,” but that relationship “is now over,” says Deshchytsia.
The Polish government and citizens have assisted nearly a million Ukrainian refugees fleeing to safety in Poland and have also provided military aid and support for those fighting against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Echoing the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian ambassador again called for harsher sanctions against Russia and the introduction of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Source: Radio Poland
The number of refugees entering Poland from Ukraine officially topped one million as of 20:00 on Sunday, according to reports from the Polish Border Guard.
A social media post on the official account of the Border Guard described the situation as “a million human tragedies, a million people expelled from their homes by the war. One million people who, after crossing the border, heard ‘You are safe’ from Border Guard officers.”
Most people are reportedly using the border crossings at Medyka and Korczowa, with police officers attempting to divert local traffic and transit providers away to centralized processing hubs nearby.
A group of 250 refugees from Ukraine arrived in Trójmiasto Sunday night just after 21:00, joining thousands of others already in Pomerania.
The special train from Przemyśl was organized by the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, and volunteers and information point employees were waiting to greet the refugees when they arrived.
Earlier the same day, another special train from Przemyśl arrived in Trójmiasto with 130 people on board. On Saturday alone, over 2,500 people arrived in Pomerania, with more expected in the coming days.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
The government of Poland announced plans yesterday to open the labor market and provide access to education as a form of systemic support for Ukrainian refugees.
According to government spokesman Piotr Müller, the draft act would grant the right to reside and work in Poland, enabling refugees “to find a temporary second home in Poland, because we still hope that they will be able to return home after the conflict in Ukraine.”
The draft act also calls for providing two months of “systemic support” for the next two months to all people who accept refugees; the support amount is currently set at around PLN 1,200 (EUR 240) per person per month.
Poland will reportedly seek additional financial aid from the European Union to offset the cost of hosting and supporting incoming refugees.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
Yesterday was the European Day of the Righteous, established in 2012 by the European Parliament to commemorate those who fought against totalitarianism and crimes against humanity.
Zbigniew Gluza, founder and president of the nonprofit KARTA Centre Foundation in Warsaw, told the PAP Polish Press agency that the European Day of the Righteous was established so that the „Righteous Among Nations” concept can expand to include all forms of totalitarianism and all situations of genocide worldwide.
The title of “Righteous Among Nations” was initially awarded to people risking their lives to help Jews in the Holocaust. Poland has the world’s highest count of individuals who have been given this distinction by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Source: Radio Poland, https://karta.org.pl/
Weather
Today will be partly cloudy and cold, with very little chance of rain and light winds coming from the west. Temperatures will remain on the chilly side, with a high around 4°C, or 40°F, dropping to below freezing overnight with a low of -1°C or 30°F. Slightly warmer weather is expected tomorrow, with a mix of sun and clouds expected throughout the week.
Epeck/pb
