Border Police: Close to 42 000 Ukrainians in Bulgaria
Since February 24, about 90 000 Ukrainians have entered Bulgaria, of whom close to 42 000 remain in the country, the Border Police said on March 17.
The statistics emerged three weeks to the day since the beginning of Russia’s current war on Ukraine, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The UN refugee agency, citing statistics as of March 16, said that more than 3.16 million people had fled Ukraine.
Most, more than 1.91 million people, had gone to Poland, followed by Romania, 491 409, and Moldova, 350 886.
Bulgaria’s Border Police said that to date, 276 requests for international protection had been handed to them by Ukrainian citizens.
By law, these are forwarded to the State Agency for Refugees.
Bulgarian law provides that requests for protection may be handed to the agency or any other state body, which must forward the requests to the State Agency for Refugees. This means that the true statistic will exceed the number cited by the Border Police.
The Border Police said that in the past day, about 4500 Ukrainians had entered Bulgaria and 2500 had exited the country.
The Bulgarian government has set up a website to assist Ukrainians, and to provide information to those in Bulgaria who want to help: ukraine.gov.bg. The website has versions in Ukrainian, English, Bulgarian and Russian.
The governnment has opened a four-language hotline to help those fleeing the war in Ukraine and for all issues related to receiving them in Bulgaria. The telephone numbers are 02/9055555 and +380 322465075.
To support the 7.5 million children in Ukraine who are in danger, Unicef has launched a global appeal. In line with this, Unicef in Bulgaria launched an emergency fundraising campaign to provide emergency humanitarian aid to children and families in Ukraine. You can find additional information by following this link.
Details of the bank account for donations to the Bulgarian Red Cross’s fundraising campaign for humanitarian aid for Ukraine may be found at this link.
(Archive photo: Interior Ministry press centre)
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