Support for Ukraine

Romania stands with Ukraine and provides assistance to all those who fled the war

Corina Cristea, 14.03.2022, 14:00

Romania will take care of
all the Ukrainian nationals who reach its territory, president Klaus Iohannis
promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, in a telephone conversation
in which he also reiterated Romania’s full support for Ukraine’s EU accession.

During the almost 3 weeks
since Russia started the war in Ukraine, over 400,000 Ukrainian citizens entered
Romania, and nearly one-fifth of them stayed here.

Both the authorities and
civil society have been quick to provide assistance, ever since the first wave
of refugees: people fleeing the war at home received everything from free hot
meals and accommodation to free transport and necessity goods, donations (including
a charity concert that raised over EUR 750,000), job opportunities as well as healthcare
or classes for the children who stayed in Romania.

An EU-coordinated
humanitarian hub set up in Suceava, in northern Romania, near the Ukrainian
border, started operating last week and relief is already being delivered. The
hub is critical in facilitating the transfer of donations raised in EU member
states and from other countries and organisations.

Assistance was also provided by Romania to
those who are only transiting the country, which includes not only Ukrainian
nationals but also third-country citizens who were in Ukraine when the war
broke out.

Among these were over 3,000 Israeli
citizens and over 1,200 Jewish Ukrainians. Romania helped them enter the
country and leave for Israel, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu announced
after a meeting in Bucharest with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid. Jewish
children from Odesa, children with cancer, were sent to Israel for treatment,
and thousands of refugees fled via the Siret checkpoint. Their lives were saved
thanks to the cooperation between our countries. Thank you, and thanks to the
government of Romania, for cooperation and assistance, said Yair Lapid, who also
visited the Siret checkpoint on Sunday.

On the other hand, the
World Health Organisation expressed concerns that the war in Ukraine may cause
a spike in COVID-19 cases. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
also issued an alert for the countries hosting refugees from Ukraine, warning
of high rates of anti-microbial resistance in Ukraine, and also of polio and
measles outbreaks that prompted a state of biological emergency being declared
in October. This is why the EU institution recommends patient isolation in
hospitals so as to prevent infectious diseases from spreading. (A.M.P.)