© JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, France should have 100,000 Ukrainian refugees within a few weeks. In Nancy, 100 people, mainly women and children, arrived this Saturday morning. The mayor of the city Mathieu Klein explains to us how this welcome will take place.
The humanitarian crisis amplifies. Over 3.3 million refugees who have now fled l’Ukraine . In France, solidarity continues to be organized, as in Nancy where 100 Ukrainian refugees, among whom 40 minors arrived at the end of the morning.
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After more than twenty hours on the road, the 100 Ukrainians whom the city of Nancy went to pick up in Poland are tired, but relieved. Among them, Marina, who left kyiv with her 8-year-old son. “I’m tired from the road, but above all, I’m very worried because I don’t know what will happen to us,” she said. It starts with a hot meal and a medical visit. Then, each Ukrainian family will meet their host family. This arrival will cause “a lot of administrative formalities”, even if some “have already been prepared during the journey, such as the pairing with families, who are candidates”, explains Mathieu Klein, the mayor of Nancy.
Families will host Ukrainians for a minimum of 10 days
Among these French people ready to welcome refugees, Julie, 37, who will house a young Ukrainian minor who arrived without his parents. “I’m quite shocked by what’s happening in Ukraine and I wondered how I might help out. I have a guest room in my apartment and suddenly I think as much as she be occupied by someone,” she says.
Like every host family, Julie undertakes to accommodate this young person for at least 10 days before a more permanent solution is found.