EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola was in Kyiv yesterday to voice support for Ukraine and its ambitions to join the EU.
Metsola told the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, that Europeans “are with you, in good times and in difficult times. We will never ever leave your side.” She went on to praise the Ukrainian people as “heroes…fighting for what we all believe in: freedom, democracy, the rule of law.”
In her address, Metsola called for tougher sanctions to hold Russia accountable and affirmed the EU Parliament’s commitment to supporting Ukrainian refugees, eventual reconstruction efforts, and Ukraine’s bid for accession to the EU.
Metsola later traveled to Poland to meet with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and discuss EU support for Ukrainian refugees.
During her visit, Metsola met Ukrainians in Otwock, near Warsaw, and thanked Poles for their support, telling Poles the world was “thankful for providing housing, medical care, and opening your own homes for millions of our brothers and sisters from Ukraine.”
Over 2.4 million (2,437,000) people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, according to figures released on Saturday by the Polish Border Guard.
Source: Radio Poland, europarl.europa.eu, Straż Graniczna
Polish President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday to discuss the situation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
Duda described his 30-minute conversation with the pontiff as “extremely important,” adding he had thanked Pope Francis for his “spiritual care,” for his prayers “for us and Ukraine,” and for his condemnation of the war.
Duda was later joined by First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, who used her time in Rome to meet with Italian dignitaries and expand her “coalition of women in support of people fleeing the war, especially unwell children and people with disabilities.”
Kornhauser-Duda later visited a pediatric hospital caring for young cancer patients evacuated from Ukraine.
Before leaving, the presidential couple laid flowers at the grave of Saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica, ahead of Saturday’s 17th anniversary of the Polish-born pontiff’s death.
Source: Radio Poland, PAP
The Polish Ministry of Health has launched a new app that will make it easier for Ukrainian refugees and other foreign nationals to communicate with healthcare providers.
The “LikarPL” application will enable a quick diagnosis of the patient’s health condition and provide translation and communication assistance during visits to the doctor or other medical professionals.
The application consists of two modules – one for the patient and one for the doctor. Before visiting a doctor, patients use the first module to enter their basic data and answer survey questions about their health. After completing the survey, the patient is given a special ID number to give to their doctor during their consultation.
During the patient’s medical consultation, the doctor module can be used to translate from Ukrainian or Russian into Polish and vice versa. The app can also generate a transcript of the consultation in the patient or doctor’s preferred language.
The initial health questionnaire and the transcript from the medical consultation can then be downloaded and printed as a .pdf file in Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, or English.
The application is available now for download at: https://likar.mz.gov.pl.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, PAP
Polish tennis phenom Iga Świątek won the Miami Open tennis tournament on Saturday after beating Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 in the finals.
After her win in Florida, Świątek is expected to be named the No. 1 player in women’s tennis by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). She would be the first Polish player ever to hold that distinction.
Official WTA rankings will be announced on April 4.
Source: Radio Poland, wtatennis.com
Firefighters were called out more than 2,000 times after heavy snowfall across Poland snapped trees and disrupted power supplies on Saturday.
The situation was most difficult in the central Mazowieckie and Świętokrzyskie voivodships, where
more than 270,000 customers were without electricity after power lines were damaged, according to reports by the Government Centre for Security (RCB).
More snow is in the forecast today for parts of southeastern Poland.
Source: Radio Poland
Weather
Today will be mostly cloudy and cold in Gdańsk, with very little chance of rain and a light breeze coming in from the northwest. Temperatures will be slightly warmer than yesterday, with a high around 6°C, or 44°F, dropping to an overnight low of 1°C or 33°F. Slightly warmer weather is expected tomorrow, along with a chance for some rain in the early morning and again in the evening.
EPeck/mk
