Ukrainian Foreign Minister calls Ukrainians ‘saviors of the Polish economy’
Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said that Ukrainians working in Poland are saving that country’s economic competitiveness.
"Nearly 300,000 [Ukrainians] have been granted work permits [by Poland], and more than 2 million have received visas, spending several billion euros (Polish statistics). To me, as a mathematician, this ratio seems very attractive to the Polish economy. Even without taking into account the fact that Ukrainians are saving the competitiveness of the Polish economy," Klimkin wrote on Twitter.
At the same time, he stressed that refugees are a category under international law.
"They need help. In two years, [only] 88 Ukrainians in Poland have received status [as refugees]," the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the country's authorities allegedly took "several dozen, and maybe, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine."
The Ukrainian Embassy in Poland stated that between 2016 and 2017, 88 Ukrainians received refugee status in Poland; 239 Ukrainian citizens were granted the status of protected persons.