As Ukraine refugees sleep in Warsaw station, activists appeal to authorities for more help

As the number of refugees fleeing to Poland from Ukraine continues to grow, NGOs and activists are calling on the authorities to provide greater and better-coordinated support and resources to help those arriving.

At Warsaw’s central station, large numbers of people have been sleeping on the floor. The provincial governor has promised improvements in how help is provided, but also claims that some refugees are choosing to stay at the station and are refusing to leave.

Since Russia’s invasion 13 days ago, around 1.3 million people have crossed the border from Ukraine into Poland. The daily numbers of people crossing have been rising, with record figures of around 142,000 on both Sunday and Monday.

Some of those people have moved on to other countries or are planning to do so. But a significant proportion – around half, according to one academic expert – are set to remain in Poland, and their numbers will be swelled by continuing arrivals.

The government has not set up refugee camps or other large-scale housing facilities and, as a result, those crossing the border have often moved on to large cities around the country. Many have been provided with accommodation by local authorities, businesses or private individuals, but some remain without proper housing.

Recent days have seen large numbers of such people – many of them young children – sleeping at Warsaw Central, the city’s main railway station. Other stations in the capital and elsewhere in Poland have seen similar scenes.

Support – including food and drink, medical care and information – is being provided by municipal and provincial authorities, as well as NGOs and a large number of volunteers. However, many organisations and activists point to growing problems in managing the situation.

There is now “chaos”, says The City Is Ours (MJN), a leading urban activist group in Warsaw. They have issued a call for better coordination to be implemented between the various institutions and organisations helping refugees, saying that the current situation is inefficient and ineffective.

MJN notes that refugees at Warsaw Central are living in poor conditions, without proper access to heating, water, electricity, toilet facilities and regular meals. They point to a number of empty premises at the station that could be made available for use as medical points, storage areas and canteens.

The activists’ appeal was addressed to Konstanty Radziwiłł, the governor of the Masovian province in which Warsaw is located and the official responsible for overseeing Warsaw Central.

In response to the concerns, Radziwiłł – who, like governors in each of Poland’s 16 provinces, is a government appointee – has announced that the system at the station for supporting those fleeing Ukraine is being reorganised and improved.

This includes setting up heated tents outside the station that will provide hot meals and drinks to refugees. There will also be further deliveries of clothing, as well a new service point offering information on finding accommodation and transport, reports Onet.

This morning, deputy interior minister Paweł Szefernaker announced that the provincial authorities and state fire service will from now on be coordinating all aid activities for refugees at Warsaw Central.

However, speaking to Radio Zet today, Radziwiłł also argued that claims of “chaos” at Warsaw Central are “deeply unfair” and that “the refugees are being cared for”.

The provincial governor then went on to claim that people were sleeping at the station out of choice. “Many of the occupants do not want to leave the station and are setting up their temporary belongings,” he said. “A large proportion of people simply do not want to leave the station.”

Radziwiłł also asked people to understand the enormous scale and unprecedented nature of the refugee crisis. He said that 250 of his officials, often with little relevant experience, are “working night and day” in extremely difficult conditions to coordinate support.

Radziwiłł also noted that the provincial authorities have set up two accommodation facilities for refugees, one in Warsaw and another nearby, as well as transport to reach them.

“These are huge halls equipped with beds, bedding, blankets, and also food points, playgrounds for children, psychological care – everything that is needed by people in such an extremely difficult situation,” he said, quoted by TVP Info.

However, in an emotional post on social media today, Joanna Niewczas, a volunteer coordinator at one of those facilities, said that the situation there was dire. She described unsanitary conditions, a lack of funding and equipment, and little support from either NGOs or the provincial authorities.

“We volunteers are at the limits of our physical and mental endurance,” she wrote, describing how they were having to buy medicine for refugees from their own pocket, how meals were being prepared by scouts – mostly children and without proper health and safety measures – and how “bathrooms are in a deplorable condition”.

Main image credit: Adam Stepien / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.