There are up to 400 thousand internally displaced people in Lviv region now, told the Head of Lviv regional military administration (RMA) Maksym Kozytskyy, noting that this figure is dynamic since people are constantly crossing the border.
"It's very difficult to name the exact number of internally displaced persons. We conditionally distinguish them into two waves - those, who left homes immediately, and those, who were forced to leave their cities after the beginning of mass bombings. In the first days between 50 and 70 thousand refugees passed through us - those, heading further across the border. Sometimes they happened to stay at the border for 2-3 days. Currently, about 20 thousand people cross the border daily.
According to our estimates, there are between 350 and 400 thousand internally displaced people in our region, however, the figure is very dynamic. Speaking of the border - around 50 thousand people, mostly men, have returned back to take up arms" - mentioned Kozytskyy.
According to him, the city is currently looking for unfinished premises to put them in order quickly and settle people there.
"Our main task now is to provide people with shelters and food. Are there enough places to stay? If at the beginning we settled people - in the city and region - in sanatoriums and kindergartens, now we are looking for libraries, theaters, even unfinished or poorly-maintained premises, where quick cosmetic renovations are possible to bring everything to order. We will surely keep hosting people - as many as needed, stated RMA head".
Maksym Kozytskyy mentioned there are no problems in providing medical care given the number of people who arrived, due to the region's preparation for the Covid-19 epidemic.
"We are also handling smooth medicines provision - thanks to humanitarian aid, our region residents involved in the aid, volunteers and entrepreneurs. A corridor with hubs in Lublin, Ryaszew, and Przemyśl was set from Poland to us.
Speaking of food, the administration together with the «World Central Kitchen» fund and local entrepreneurs - "Fest" group, Vado Arzumanyan, «Restaron», "Emily-resort" - cook nearly 25 thousand portions of hot food daily. And we are planning to increase the number," - summed up Kozytskyy.