European Union officials pledged Friday to continue supporting the millions of Ukrainian refugees to coincide with the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of the country.
“Ukraine can win this war, but we will be with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told The Associated Press at a migration conference. near Athens.
Johansson urged community partners to end lengthy negotiations to adopt new bloc-wide immigration rules and to help Ukrainians who wish to return to their country but retain their temporary resident status in the EU.
More than eight million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the conflict, according to the UN refugee agency, and nearly five million have requested temporary protection in the bloc or similar measures in other countries. Europeans.
Bartosz Grodecki, deputy interior minister of Poland, the country that has received the most Ukrainian refugees, said his government was preparing for a possible new wave of arrivals ahead of planned spring offensives by the forces of Moscow and Kiev.
For her part, Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed in his attempt to divide EU countries by increasing energy prices and migration.
“It’s a sad anniversary, but it’s also an opportunity to learn from those horrible 12 months behind us,” Schinas told the AP. “And when it comes to (refugees from) Ukraine, the numbers are stable.”
The migration conference was hosted by Greece, Austria, Poland and Lithuania to discuss issues such as the bloc’s border management issues, including the construction of a border wall.