Ukrainian refugees wait for buses to Spain at the Ptak Warsaw Expo exhibition centre, a trade show hall that has been set up as a temporary shelter for up to 20,000 people.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
In normal times the sprawling Ptak Warsaw Expo centre on the outskirts of the Polish capital would be gearing up for a series of trade shows this spring and catering to Poles eager to buy discount electronics or garden supplies.
But instead the centre has been transformed into a shelter for up to 20,000 refugees from Ukraine. A giant banner hangs on the wall outside: Humanitarian Expo. Inside, thousands of cots have been set up in two exhibition halls and on Saturday 5,000 people were taking refuge.
The giant shelter has only been open for a few days and officials have already signalled that all of the space will be needed as the surge of people fleeing the war in Ukraine shows no sign of slowing.
More than 1.5 million refugees have arrived in Poland since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last month. And while many have carried on to join relatives or friends in other parts of Europe, more and more refugees are staying in Poland and finding their way to major cities such as Warsaw.
On Saturday, 5,000 people were taking refuge at the sprawling Ptak Warsaw Expo exhibition centre.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
“We are dealing with the greatest migration crisis in the history of Europe since World War II. … The situation is getting more and more difficult every day,” Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski told reporters last week, adding: “The greatest challenge is still ahead of us.”
Mr. Trzaskowski said more than 320,000 people had travelled through the city since Russia launched its attack and roughly 230,000 have stayed. That’s boosted Warsaw’s population by more than 10 per cent in less than a month.
The city and regional governments have tried to respond and there has been an overwhelming outpouring of community support for Ukrainians seeking safety.
Ukrainian children, uprooted from home and family, struggle to process war’s traumas in Poland
Officials have set up two other massive shelters, including one in a 5,000-seat hockey arena, and they’ve reserved space in several schools. They’ve also offered free transit passes to anyone with a Ukrainian passport and lit up several downtown buildings in the blue-and-yellow of Ukraine’s flag.
Thousands of Warsaw residents have joined in and taken to social media with offers of rooms. Several businesses have set aside space as well and one major Polish hotel chain, Arche Group, has pledged to put up 5,000 refugees.
And in an ironic twist, Mr. Trzaskowski has announced that two buildings that housed Russian diplomats during the Soviet era will be turned into apartments for refugees. The empty apartment blocks have been tied up in legal wrangling for 30 years as the Russian and Polish governments argued over ownership. But last week a Polish court finally ruled that the city could seize the properties. The mayor has said they will provide up to 100 units for Ukrainians fleeing the war.
Volunteers have set up several tents offering food and clothes to Ukrainian refugees, many of them camped out on mats on the floor, at Warsaw’s central train station.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
But despite the communal effort, officials worry it’s still not enough and that, as fighting in Ukraine intensifies, many more desperate people will arrive.
When the war began last month, nearly all of those fleeing Ukraine had family, friends or some other contact in Europe, and most needed only short-term support. But officials say that’s slowly changing. Now at least 30 per cent of those arriving will need to be settled in Poland. And that figure is expected to grow. Meeting that demand is already becoming a challenge.
As shelters fill up, officials have limited stays to just a couple of days. That’s forced many refugees on to the streets and into the city’s train stations which have become jammed with Ukrainians seeking somewhere to go.
On Saturday night, the mezzanine level of the central station in downtown Warsaw was filled with refugees camped out on air mattresses and foam mats on the floor. Sveta Giengiel, 48, came here from Kharkiv last week along with more than a dozen relatives, including seven children. They’ve been living in a corner of the station for a week. “We don’t have help,” said Ms. Giengiel. She added that they didn’t know anyone in Poland and had no idea how to apply for refugee status or find a permanent home. “I don’t know what to do.”
Conditions at the train station deteriorated so much in recent days that a group of volunteers banded together to provide some kind of help. They put up a series of tents outside the station, offering food, clothing and medical assistance.
“Some of the people come in and they don’t have a plan whatsoever,” said volunteer Ilona Zaishliuk. She added that the group tries to help them find a place to live, but there’s a limit to what they can do. “Warsaw and Krakow are very overwhelmed with a lot of people coming in as their first point here. Some of them move forward, but for a lot of them, they stay here for a while. So that’s why we are a little bit overworked,” she said.
The national government has recently moved to offer some longer-term assistance. Proposed legislation will allow Ukrainians to stay in Poland for 18 months and access the education and health care systems. The government also plans to provide 40 zlotys a day, or $11.63, for up to two months to people who provide accommodation.
Myroslava Kravets and her 11-year old son Andrej plan to leave the refugee centre and head to Barcelona.Anna Liminowicz/The Globe and Mail
But whether that will be enough remains to be seen. For now, thousands of refugees like Myroslava Kravets have to rely on offers from strangers.
Ms. Kravets arrived at the Expo centre last week from Rivne in western Ukraine with her 11-year-old son Andrej. She’s never been to Poland and has no relatives in Europe to turn to. Her only hope has come from a businessman in Spain who has promised accommodation and free passage to Barcelona. She doesn’t know the man but seems reassured by his postings online. She doesn’t have many options.
As she lined up for the bus to Spain on Saturday, Ms. Kravets said she tries to distract her son from the trauma of the war by pretending they’re on holiday. “I say that this is a trip, a vacation,” she said. “But when he sees the news, we are crying.”
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Paul Waldie