Poland prepares for one million refugees crossing the border from Ukraine

Border towns say the situation remains calm despite Russian troops moving into breakaway regions of Ukraine

A Polish border guard gives instructions as drivers wait to cross the border from Poland into Ukraine at the Medyka crossing. AP

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Poland is preparing for a wave of up to one million refugees from Ukraine, in the event of a Russian invasion.

All of Poland’s provinces have been told to prepare for an influx of Ukrainians, with towns on the country’s eastern border setting up reception centres and temporary accommodation.

Officials estimate the number of Ukrainian taking flight could number as high as one million. Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski has asked local administrations to deliver a plan on Tuesday on how to accommodate substantial numbers.

"In connection with the situation in Ukraine we are preparing for various scenarios. One of them is regional preparations related to a possible influx of refugees from Ukraine," he said.

Ukrainians have the right of visa-free travel throughout the EU and many who were considering leaving have already gone.

“Russia expected everyone to panic and flee to Europe, to just buy buckwheat and pasta, food, but we all bought machine guns and weapons and cartridges,” Volodymyr Halyk, a Ukrainian in Poland, told The National.

“No one is afraid, no one will abandon their homes, no one will flee.”

Many cross the border every day for work and shopping and return. Officials reported that those numbers were down amid the growing uncertainty about Russia’s intentions in Ukraine.

Joanna Sendlak, a customs official at Medyka on the Poland-Ukraine border, said: “Like every local, we are afraid of what will happen.

“Our local municipality has not informed us yet how to, or what to, prepare in case of the influx of these people.”

Poland is already home for an estimated two million Ukrainians, many of whom came to the country to work.

Sitting at the heart of Europe, Poland has a long history of coping with shifting alliances, borders and political upheavals.

In Medyka, a sports centre is being prepared to accept new arrivals. Bozena Flader, the owner of a local inn in Medyka, said: “We are not scared of the Ukrainian refugees.

“I think I am ready to host some of them or help them if necessary. I don't know about other local business owners as we have not had the chance to discuss it together.

“Our local government has not informed us yet about any emergency measures or precautions we should take in the event of an influx.”

Mariusz Gumienny, the town council chairman in Medyka, said the thousands of additional US troops who arrived in the area are helping to maintain a sense of security.

“It calms the mood,” he said.

“There is no panic. You can’t see inhabitants trying to protect themselves in any way. But one thing is still in my mind: what will happen if a wave of refugees from Ukraine starts? This is what [people] fear most," Mr Gumienny told the Associated Press.

The US has sent about 5,000 troops to Poland in recent weeks. These are in addition to 4,000 rotational troops the US began sending after Russian actions against Ukraine in 2014.

The US government has advised its citizens leaving the country by land to enter Poland at one of two border crossings between the two countries, including one at Medyka. It has set up a “welcome centre” at a hotel in the town of Przemysl, some 14 kilometres from the border to help its nationals.

Some towns have reported they have places for several hundred refugees, falling far short of the potential one million envisioned by central government.

Local groups reported that the border region was calm, with no signs that the order by Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops to “keep the peace” in two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine had sparked panic.

Tanks and other military hardware were seen moving through the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk after the Russian president formally recognised the breakaway regions of Donbas and Luhansk.

The US and other western allies condemned Mr Putin’s move as a breach of pro-western Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Rights groups said the welcome being offered to Ukrainian refugees was in stark contrast to the treatment of migrants who attempted to cross the border from Moscow-ally Belarus last year. Poland claimed that effort was a Moscow-inspired effort designed to destabilise Poland and test unity within the European Union to back one of its easternmost members.

Poland announced last month it was building a wall along its frontier with Belarus aimed at preventing migrants from crossing into the EU, many of whom were from Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Grupa Granica, a network of NGOs that worked on the border crisis said that Poland had “violently pushed back” people from other countries. “Why don’t they have access to the same treatment [as the Ukrainians]?” the group said.

But many Poles living and working in the border regions, said they had more pressing problems than the prospect of the largest war in Europe since the Second World War.

Filip Kleszcz, a Polish lorry driver, said: “I don't care so much about the war. We have other problems: corruption. Ukrainian border guards expect a favour in exchange for a safe passage of our cargo.”