Shweta Desai
28 February 2022•Update: 28 February 2022
PARIS
France has launched a crisis management mechanism to facilitate humanitarian aid to Poland and Moldova in order to help Ukrainian refugees displaced by the Russian intervention, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Monday.
A consignment of 33 tons of material of food, medicine, blankets, and tents has been sent to Poland, and a similar package of 30 tons will be sent to Moldova, Darmanin told France2 TV news.
He added that the aid package contains "everything that will help people and children to be welcomed in the best conditions."
Over 368,000 Ukrainians have fled, and many more are fleeing to neighboring Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Moldova as the conflict in the eastern European country rages on.
Notably, roads leading to Poland have witnessed long lines of cars, and thousands of displaced people, women, and children have been waiting in freezing temperatures at border crossings.
“This conflict is a tragedy. We must do everything to restore peace and support the populations… It is our duty to help those fleeing the war,” he said.
The aid delivery is part of the crisis management mechanism activated at the European Union level.
Darmanin said France will welcome all Ukrainians impacted by the war. His government will table a resolution in parliament next week to grant them temporary protection and asylum.
The government is also gearing up to ban the entry of Russian politicians and diplomats who voted in favor of the invasion, he said, adding, “They can no longer access our territories.”
Meanwhile, due to the EU's closure of airspace to Belarusian and Russian flights, the French Foreign Ministry has discouraged travel to both countries.
It has also urged French nationals in Belarus to leave the country as soon as possible by road, via border crossing points with Lithuania, Poland, or Latvia, and those in Russia to make arrangements via existing air links.
