Krajniak: Over 258,000 Refugees from Ukraine Arrive in Slovakia
Bratislava, March 22 (TASR) – Over 258,000 refugees from Ukraine had arrived in Slovakia by 6 a.m. on Tuesday, including some 101,000 children, Labour Minister Milan Krajniak (We Are Family) told a news conference held on Tuesday with Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Centre (UPSVR) director Karol Zimmer in attendance.
A total of 47,322 people have applied for temporary refuge, of which 20,651 have been children.
“Concerning adult Ukrainians, the proportion leans highly towards women,” stated Krajniak, noting that more and more people who cross the border are applying for temporary refuge on the territory of Slovakia. “At first it was below 10 percent, but now it is almost one fifth,” underlined the minister. Despite the fact that the number of people who are being helped is growing, the Labour Ministry is managing the situation, he said.
“We’ve placed 90 Ukrainian children in our children’s homes to date, with the highest number of them being cared for in Presov,” said Krajniak. There are currently 3,698 Ukrainian children aged up to three years in Slovakia who can be placed in nursery schools. “We’ve registered some 20 applications up to now, with the first three children already being placed in nursery schools,” he noted.
According to Krajniak, 380 Ukrainian refugees have already been employed in Slovakia, and their number is growing. The highest number of Ukrainians have been employed in regions with the highest number of job vacancies, i.e. in western and central Slovakia. “The biggest share of them have found jobs in the jurisdiction of labour offices in the districts of Trencin, Malacky (Bratislava region), Namestovo (Zilina region), Nove Mesto nad Vahom (Trencin region), Nove Zamky (Nitra region) and Nitra,” he said.
“Ukrainian nationals have mainly found jobs in the field of personal health care. They are working as auxiliary medical staff or as carers for the elderly and disabled,” added Krajniak.
According to Zimmer, Ukrainian nationals can apply for benefits for those in material need at labour offices, or at large-scale centres located in Humenne (Presov region), Michalovce (Kosice region) and Nitra. “There they will receive support not only in terms of benefits in material need, but also in terms of job opportunities. That’s why we’ve prepared bilingual forms,” added Zimmer. Labour offices have registered 4,804 Ukrainian applicants for benefits in material need so far.
