Poland calls for more humanitarian aid for Ukraine
A Polish deputy foreign minister has appealed to the European Union and its members to increase their humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
"I have appealed to EU member states and, above all, to the European Union to increase their humanitarian aid to Ukraine so that it could rebuild its energy infrastructure and build temporary shelters for people fleeing war," Paweł Jabłoński said after Monday's meeting of EU ministers responsible for development aid.
Jabłoński added that Poland, which had been implementing such projects for months, had been for a long time encouraging others to join.
"What is needed is more support for Ukraine and more support for states like Poland which have been accepting refugees," he said, adding that Poland was the EU country which had admitted the largest number of Ukrainian refugees.
According to him, Poland had already spent billions of Polish zlotys and that other front countries neighbouring Ukraine had been sharing the burden of the refugee crisis.
"It is unacceptable that, in this situation, the EU is standing back, that it does not engage itself and does not support the states which have been admitting refugees," the official continued.
According to Jabłoński, funds for Ukraine could be obtained from the frozen Russian assets. "It was good that the EC had been working on the matter," but, unfortunately, "no steps had been taken since March."
"This is a fundamental issue, it must be done as the funds are needed by Ukraine, by refugees and the states supporting Ukraine," Jabłoński concluded.
