Relief work in frontline states – Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Moldova – has mainly been shouldered by ordinary citizens volunteering to drive, cook or house refugees, with the help of non-governmental organisations and local authorities.

But with the war now in its third week and the number of refugees swelling, it is becoming difficult to provide sufficient help.

In Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city, one NGO described the situation at the train station as “tragic”.

“There is nowhere to direct the refugees. They are stressed and confused, all kinds of help is needed, and above all, premises,” tweeted Fundacja Brata Alberta, an NGO that in normal times helps individuals with mental disabilities.

In Hrubieszow, a Polish town on the Ukrainian border, Mayor Marta Majewska said she had spent all the town’s crisis reserve of 100,000 zlotys ($22,889), as well as 170,000 zlotys from the local province, to run a refugee reception centre.

“I am most worried about electricity bills,” she told Radio Zet. “The city cannot bear it at all.”

FILLING UP FAST

In Warsaw, the biggest temporary reception centre was about 70% full by Thursday. Refugees now make up over 10% of the Polish capital’s population, Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said.

Close to 4,000 Ukrainian children are now attending school in Warsaw, he added, with city authorities setting up 76 “preparatory classes” in which they learn Polish.

Trzaskowski separately called for other nations to step in, urging airlifts and a global system to manage the influx.

“We’re getting overwhelmed… We cannot improvise anymore,” he told U.S. television network MSNBC. “We need relocation in Europe and we need relocation in the world.”

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday the United States would welcome those fleeing the conflict.

“We’re going to welcome Ukraine refugees with open arms if in fact they come all the way here,” he told a group of U.S. lawmakers. He gave no details.

In Przemysl, near Poland’s busiest border crossing and a transit hub for refugees, Vice-Mayor Boguslaw Swiezy said he was seeing a decline in the number of volunteers, some of whom are students, others people taking time off work.

The Polish government will start reimbursing local governments’ costs for handling refugees from next week, once a new law comes into force, the interior ministry said.

Romania’s capital Bucharest was turning a convention centre and indoor arena, Romexpo, into its biggest refugee shelter yet, while Hungary was studying whether to turn museums, sports arenas and public buildings in Budapest into shelters.

The Hungarian government is also providing subsidies to employers who take on refugees to help cover accommodation and travel costs. In the Czech Republic, Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib called for more government funds to help accommodate refugees.

‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT’

And the refugees just keep arriving.

Dasha, a 31-year-old psychotherapist from Kyiv, arrived on Friday at Medyka, Poland’s busiest border crossing with Ukraine, where temperatures overnight dropped to -9 degrees Celsius (15.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

She left Kyiv on the first day of the invasion and stayed in the western city of Lviv but has now left Ukraine on the advice of her husband, who is in the army reserve.

“It’s tough in Kyiv, they are encircling the city,” she told Reuters, with two little dogs on their leashes.

“I’m going to Wroclaw (in southwest Poland), I have some friends there,” she said before bursting into tears. “I don’t know what to do next.”

Inna, a 55-year old woman fleeing Dnipropetrovsk, said she had travelled 24 hours to reach Medyka.

“My town was bombed this morning… I just can’t talk, I am so overwhelmed,” she sobbed.

She did not know where she would spend Friday night.

The United Nations bases its relief plans on 4 million people fleeing abroad, but has said it may need to revise the number higher.

The Polish Border Guard said 1.5 million people had entered Poland from Ukraine since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24.

Nearly 365,000 people have so far fled into Romania, 219,000 to Hungary and 176,000 to Slovakia, officials said. Nearly 200,000 have reached the Czech Republic, which does not share a border with Ukraine.

Others are reaching or are seen getting to German, Sweden and other countries in Western Europe.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a special military operation to disarm its neighbour and dislodge its “neo-Nazi” leaders. Kyiv and its Western allies say this is a baseless pretext to invade a country of 44 million people.

(Additional reporting by Mari Saito in Medyka, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw, Luiza Ilie in Bucharest, Robert Muller in Prague, Anita Komuves and Krisztina Than in Budapest, Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Gwladys Fouche, additional writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Gareth Jones and Angus MacSwan),

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-03-11/eastern-europes-aid-effort-under-strain-as-ukraine-refugees-keep-arriving

The post Eastern Europe Under Strain as Ukraine Refugees Keep Coming first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

> U.S. and IDF troops, in major joint drill, simulating battle on 3 fronts
> Amid rising tension with Iran, Israel to join largest int’l navy exercise

A US M1 Abrams tank fires during the “Saber Strike” NATO military exercise in Adazi, Latvia, June 11, 2016.. (photo credit: REUTERS)

Israel is participating for the first time in two simultaneous large-scale international exercises in Europe, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced on Monday.

IDF paratroopers will participate in the Swift Response exercise, which will be held in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, with the participation of a paratroopers unit that will train with the 173rd Brigade of the European Command of the US Army.

Thousands of soldiers from 10 different countries will participate in the exercise, including Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland and Portugal.

Swift Response will feature airborne exercises, joint forcible entry personnel and equipment drops, air assault operations, a force buildup using a short takeoff and landing strip and noncombatant evacuation operations.

“This is the first time the IDF has participated in a international exercise of the European Command,” read the IDF statement.

“The objective of the exercise is to improve the ability for mutual cooperation between the participating armies.”

In addition to Swift Response, more IDF paratroopers will take part in European Command’s Saber Strike exercise, in which more than 18,000 fighters from 19 countries, including Poland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will participate.

An annual drill, the objective of this year’s Saber Strike will be to train and drill the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) enhanced forward presence with a focus on promoting interoperability and improving joint operational capability in a variety of land missions.

The exercise, which will occur in several Eastern European countries, will also drill troops on contending with air strikes and tank warfare of foreign forces.

According to the US Army, “these exercises demonstrate the command’s continued commitment to NATO allies and partners by maintaining its war-fighting edge and ability for crisis response.”

The drill will last until June 15 on NATO’s eastern flank and, according to European Command, is “a demonstration of the commitment and solidarity of the Alliance” at a time when Russia’s military maneuvers have concerned NATO members.

With Russia’s increasingly assertive maneuvers in the region, NATO’s strategic interest in the eastern Mediterranean is increasing, and in late May, the British HMS Duncan and Spanish frigate Victoria, commissioned by NATO forces, docked in Israel’s Haifa Port ahead of joint exercises with the IDF.

In December, the HMS Ocean, the flagship of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, docked in Haifa port before taking part in several joint exercises with the Israel Navy and Air Force.

The announcement of Israel’s participation comes shortly after NATO’s secretary- general Jens Stoltenberg told Germany’s Der Spiegel that the alliance wouldn’t come to Israel’s defense in case of attack by Iran.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israel-participating-in-two-large-scale-military-drills-in-Europe-559106

The post Israel participating in two large scale military drills in Europe first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.