Government: Take Ukraine refugees out of Moldova by plane
Created: 03/12/2022Updated: 03/12/2022 10:14 p.m
Refugees from Ukraine wait at the border crossing in Palanca in Moldova.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The people in the contested regions of Ukraine continue to come under fire.
Whoever can flee, flees.
The tiny Republic of Moldova is calling for help.
Baerbock assures support.
Chisinau - According to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Germany is working with international partners on a kind of airlift for Ukrainian refugees from Moldova.
Such a possibility is "absolutely sensible" to relieve the country and to distribute the arrivals to other states, said the Green politician on Saturday after a meeting with her Moldovan counterpart Nicu Popescu in the state capital Chisinau.
Baerbock called on the international community to provide more support to neighboring Ukrainian countries in dealing with the war refugees.
This applies in particular to Moldova.
Bringing refugees from Moldova to Germany
Baerbock said the federal government would bring 2,500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova directly to Germany as a first step.
She agreed this with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).
Faeser announced on Saturday that he would organize and implement the reception of refugees from Moldova "quickly and unbureaucratically" in the next few days.
“Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine is a terrible humanitarian catastrophe;
a lot of people are fleeing to the small neighboring country of Moldova," she told the German Press Agency.
Baerbock made it clear that a corridor with buses and trains via Romania is also being set up for the distribution of refugees from Moldova.
People should also be flown out of the country directly or via neighboring countries with larger airport capacities.
This could also happen across the Atlantic - i.e. to the USA or Canada.
"You have to be very pragmatic in this situation and not work out a one hundred percent perfect concept for three months," said the minister.
More than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in Moldova
The EU has made emergency aid of five million euros available for Moldova, and the federal government has provided an additional three million euros, said Baerbock.
According to Popescu, Moldova has so far taken in around 300,000 people from Ukraine, of whom more than 100,000 are still in the country.
The former Soviet republic is one of the economically weakest countries in Europe.
Popescu said Moldova needs more foreign aid to ensure stability and deal with humanitarian costs.
Moldova's Foreign Minister made it clear that his country was interested in further rapprochement with the European Union and asked for support from the EU border protection organization Frontex in monitoring the border with Ukraine.
Frontex could also help register the refugees.
Baerbock calls on international community for help
Baerbock said Moldova is one of the smallest countries bordering Ukraine and has taken in a large number of people in recent days.
"But in the long run they can't bear it alone." The international community must ensure that the people of Moldova get away from the border to safety.
In the first days of the war, many people came in their own cars and were picked up by relatives.
"But the more violent the war becomes, the more people are injured, are fleeing and cannot take anything with them, the more support is needed here."
Baerbock visits refugee facility
Baerbock visited a reception center for refugees in the capital Chisinau on Saturday.
She brought gifts for the children, such as a paint box and drawing pads.
The facility has temporary accommodation, an infirmary and a corona vaccination center.
About 900 people are currently there.
According to the Foreign Office, up to 4,000 people can be cared for.
Baerbock thanked the employees of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, who had come to Moldova in their truck after a three-day journey via Austria, Hungary and Romania.
The THW supplies, among other things, camp beds, sleeping bags, tents, heaters and food.
Countless people keep coming to Poland
According to the UN, more than 2.5 million people from Ukraine have already sought refuge abroad.
Most initially stayed in neighboring countries - such as in Poland.
According to Polish border guards, almost 1.6 million people have fled to safety in Poland since the beginning of the war.
Since midnight alone, 17,700 people have arrived from the neighboring country, the authority said on Twitter on Saturday.
This means that the number of Ukrainians who fled to Poland before the war in their homeland has increased to around 1.59 million.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recognized Poland's receptiveness as a great achievement on Friday.
“Also with what kindness this is done.
And Germany will do the same.”
123,000 have already arrived in Germany
More and more war refugees from Ukraine are also arriving in Germany.
Since the attack began, 122,837 people from Ukraine have been registered, the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on Saturday.
A spokesman said these were figures from the federal police, which are currently intensifying controls.
However, since there are no fixed border controls at the internal borders, the number of war refugees entering Germany could actually be significantly higher.
The Minister of State for Migration, Reem Alabali-Radovan, suggested expanding social benefits for Ukraine refugees.
"The refugees receive benefits from the social welfare offices via the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act," said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"But we should also think about granting people from Ukraine access to basic security in the medium term." However, accommodation and care are currently the priority.
Anti-war demonstrations planned
In Berlin and other major German cities, tens of thousands of people want to protest against the war again on Sunday.
In the federal capital (12.00 p.m.), the organizers' alliance of trade unions, churches, environmental protection initiatives and peace groups alone registered 100,000 participants.
The police spoke of a realistic magnitude.
The motto is: "Stop the war.
Peace and solidarity for the people of Ukraine”.
The demonstration is to lead from Alexanderplatz in Berlin to Straße des 17. Juni.
Most recently, on February 27, three days after the start of the war, more than a hundred thousand people demonstrated in Berlin.
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A broad alliance of more than 50 organizations is calling for large-scale demonstrations on Sunday.
Protests are also planned in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Leipzig.
In Hamburg, the German Federation of Trade Unions is calling for a rally at 1 p.m. on Jungfernstieg.
According to police reports, a peak of 30,000 people took to the streets in Hamburg last weekend against the Russian war of aggression.
In Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart and Leipzig, too, people want to take to the streets at 12 p.m. dpa