Ukrainian refugee crisis

Like many other Ukrainian refugees, upon arriving in Warsaw Iryna and her daughter were quickly hosted by a Polish family. But, as it was in many cases, the offer for housing was only short term, so mother and child had to move to another home, then a third one, all within one month of reaching Poland.

People demonstrate in front of the Russian embassy in Sofia on 24 February in support of Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

Over 56,000 refugees from Ukraine are currently being hosted in Bulgaria and are now being moved to different state-owned bases.

In total, there are more than 56,000 Ukrainians in accommodations and state resorts, said in an interview with BTA the Minister of Tourism Hristo Prodanov.

Ljubljana – Caritas Slovenia has so far raised more than EUR 3 million in aid for Ukraine in what is the biggest humanitarian campaign dedicated to a foreign country in Slovenia’s history. The organisation, which has so far sent 20 shipments totalling 283 tonnes of aid to the war-stricken country, notes that the situation there calls for more and more help.

The Deputy Prime Minister for Effective Governance Kalina Konstantinova today in the National Assembly apologized to the Ukrainian refugees for her video address, in which she announced the termination of the plan to move them from hotels on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast inland:

The refugee center in Elhovo is closing, and all accommodated refugees from Ukraine will be taken today by buses to hotels and resorts in the interior of the country, BTV reports. Six buses will transport 220 refugees from the war to hotels in the resorts of Pamporovo, Borovets and the Stara Zagora Mineral Baths.

A failed push to move Ukrainian refugees from Black Sea hotels to state-owned complexes is indicative of the chaotic response of Bulgarian authorities to the humanitarian crisis unleashed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, activists say.

Most brokers, who have been active in renting housing to Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of the war, no longer have free accommodations to offer. At the same time, the demand for rental property remains stable on the part of Ukrainians. However, there is often a mismatch between the budget they have prepared and what they want to rent for it.

Most of the Ukrainian refugees refused to enter the wagons located in the temporary distribution centers due to the conditions in them and stayed for hours in the buses.

"Organization - zero, information - zero. Nothing! We got off the bus and they left us," said one of the refugees.

Second attempt to relocate Ukrainian refugees from resorts and hotels on the Black Sea coast inland. 74 people got on the train in Varna, while on Sunday there were only 5 Ukrainians at the station.