More Ukrainian refugees may come to Poland in winter says dep minister

Poland must be prepared for yet another wave of refugees from Ukraine in the winter, a deputy interior minister has said.

Pawel Szafernaker, who is also the government's commissioner for refugees, said at a convention of local government officials on Wednesday that "both the central and local governments must be aware that there may be yet another wave of refugees."

Szafernaker did not provide any estimates, but quoted the Ukrainian government's prediction that some 500,000 Ukrainians may migrate from the eastern part to the western part of the country during this coming winter.

"We must be prepared that some number of those refugees will want to come to Poland," the deputy minister said.

Szafernaker said the Polish government had supported Ukraine with PLN 10 billion (EUR 2.1 billion) from a special aid fund and that 1.2 million refugees had received aid from Polish families over the past six months.

Among those refugees who received the Polish identification number PESEL, about 600,000 are at an economically productive age and 400,000 have found legal jobs in the country