Accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in buffer centres in Sarafovo and Elhovo started

accommodation ukrainian refugees buffer centres sarafovo elhovo started

Снимка:

от БНТ

20:35, 31.05.2022

Accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in the buffer zones in Sarafovo and Elhovo started on May 31. This came after Deputy Prime Minister Kalina Konstantinova announced yesterday that the government was suspending the resettlement plan because of refugees' refusal to travel to state-owned accommodation facilities in the interior of the country.

Deputy PM: Government shuts down relocation plan for Ukrainian refugees, until it is clear how many people really need shelter

120 refugees from two hotels in seaside resort “Sunny Beach” arrived at the Defence Ministry accommodation facility in Sarafovo. They were accommodated in the hotel part, which has 250 beds.

Tents are also being set up in case the capacity fills up. The tents are expected to be between 700 - 800.

The accommodation is temporary until a committee assesses what the needs of each of the Ukrainians are and then they can be moved to state bases if they wish.

Some of the refugees who arrived at the base in Elhovo by their own transport have decided not to stay, once they got there. There remains the option for refugees to be accommodated in the hotels under the programme for BGN 10 and BGN 15. A list of these will be published, but Ukrainians will have to find them themselves and sign up for accommodation.

"The direct accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in state facilities is halted. Anyone wishing to be housed in a state base should first go through a buffer centre, have their needs actually established, and then be referred to the appropriate state facility. There is shelter, there is water, there is food, there are toilets, and especially in Sarafovo, this is a recreation facility where the servicemen go every year to rest, although the Ukrainian citizens find these conditions unsuitable," said Plamen Yanev, Deputy District Governor of Bourgas.

The Ukrainian citizens who were waiting for the bus to Sarafovo in Sunny Beach said that they did not know what awaited them.

They did not tell us anything. Yesterday evening I found out that a bus would be waiting for us today and nothing more. We heard that they will move us to some shacks, but we are with children, I don't know what we will do, We will not stay if there are no normal living conditions. We will ask for help from volunteers," said Marina from Dnipro.

Vika, Dnipro: "Yesterday people were transported to a centre in Kiten (seaside resort town of the South coast), we are ready to go there. We don't need the sea, we don't need luxury, just normal conditions for the children".

Yuri: "I don't know where, why and how. I understood that they will put us in a recreation base for military in Sarafovo, but what does that mean".

Of the 112 Ukrainians who had previously said they would leave the hotel at noon, only 45 arrived at the base in Sarafovo. Later, refugees were taken from two more hotels, bringing the total number to 120.

For more than three hours the refugees from the hotel in Sunny Beach were waiting to be transferred by bus. However, they learned that they would not be taken to a state accommodation base, but to a buffer centre.

The UN also checked whether the conditions in the buffer centre are suitable.

"The conditions here would be suitable for a short stay while people are redirected to other places," said Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.

And because of the announced end of the resettlement programme, some Ukrainians in Varna have already applied to give up temporary protection and leave the country.

"I am going to live in another country, in Poland, there are more job opportunities there. I am a doctor, there are better conditions for doctors there. In Bulgaria it is chaos. People stay in hotels and don't know where they are going and nobody tells them anything," said Lena Dalenko from Kherson.

In the early afternoon, about 350 Ukrainian refugees from hotels in “Golden Sands” resort left by train for the refugee centre in Elhovo.

"We only know that we will live in containers in Elhovo, we don't know anything more."

"It is not nice on the street either, they will still provide for us and that is why we are grateful," the refugees say.

Accommodation in the buffer bases is planned to continue for about 4-5 days.