The minister of the Interior, Lucian Bode, on Friday, in the context of the completion of one year since the beginning of the war launched by the Russian Federation in Ukraine stated that the Romanians have behaved exemplary during all this time, offering „refuge and comfort” to millions of Ukrainians who left their homes and country to save their lives and that of their children, according to Agerpres.

„MAI [the Ministry of Interior – editor’s note] was the first institution that responded to the needs of our neighbours, chased from their homes by rockets, bombs and tanks,” says Bode, in a message posted on Facebook.

He appreciates the effort made by the MAI structures to help Ukrainian refugees, also mentioning the good collaboration with volunteers and non-governmental organizations.

Bode recalls that since the beginning of the war in the neighbouring country, more than 3.6 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania, of which 1.4 million are minors, and listed the actions taken by the employees of the Ministry of Interior to ensure an operational flow of Ukrainian refugees entering Romania.

More than 4,000 employees of the Ministry of Interior worked daily in the border areas with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova: 1,828 policemen, 1,596 border policemen, 249 gendarmes, 329 firefighters and civil protection personnel, and 61 employees of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, created green corridors for the evacuation of refugees, provided humanitarian assistance to a number of 2,476,884 Ukrainian citizens and carried out, for one year, over 127,000 actions for the safety of Romanian and Ukrainian citizens, says Bode.

In addition, the Romanian state mobilized exemplary in providing support to refugees, by operationalizing 15 transit centres and seven care centres for vulnerable people, in the counties near the Romanian-Ukrainian and Romanian-Moldovan borders, accommodation spaces at the national level, communication platforms for quick access to useful information and the Suceava and Isaccea humanitarian hubs, daily involving volunteers in the aid activities (collecting and distributing donations received from civil society – food, clothing, transport facilities, etc.).

Agerpres