Prague seeks EU help to shelter Ukrainian refugees

Ph. AFP

The Czech Republic has asked the European Union for 25 modular building blocks to help it host up to 50,000 Ukrainian refugees, the country’s Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said on Saturday.

“The request provides for up to 25 humanitarian camps for 2,000 refugees each,” he said, quoted by the CTK news agency. The spokeswoman for the general directorate of firefighters – who play an important role in the transport and reception of refugees -, Pavla Jakoubkova, estimated that “the absorption capacity of the Czech Republic is almost exhausted”.

More than 102,000 Ukrainian refugees have been registered in the Czech Republic since the Russian military operation in Ukraine launched on February 24, she said, but the actual number is “certainly 200,000”.

The country of 10.7 million people is home to a Ukrainian community of around 200,000 people, who mainly work as construction workers, nurses or cleaners.

The Russian military operation in Ukraine and the influx of refugees have sparked a wave of solidarity in the Czech Republic, with many people offering to house Ukrainians fleeing the war.

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