178,894 refugees arrive in Hungary by Tuesday
By Tuesday morning, 178,894 people entered Hungary at one of the five border crossings with Ukraine, government spokeswoman Alexandra Szentkirályi told a press conference after a meeting of the Mational Humanitarian Council tasked with assessing the humanitarian situation inconnection with the war in Ukraine.
So far, the Hungarian disaster management authority has provided accomodation to 3,252 people, 1,780 children among them, Szentkirályi said.
Council head Milkos Soltesz, who also serves as the state secretary for church and minority relations, said charity organisations have helped 81,600 people in Hungarian localities near the border, and at railway stations. Hungarian cooperation to help those fleeing from war is “exemplary”, he said.
Szentkirályi, visiting a logistics hub of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service earlier on Tuesday in Budapest, said the government was doing all it could to protect the Hungarian people.
She praised cross-border cooperation to help refugees from Ukraine involving the police, disaster relief and aid workers, local governments, government agencies, as well as volunteers.
Budapest receives 4,000 refugees on Monday
On Monday, 3,983 Ukrainian refugees arrived in Budapest by train, local police said, adding that the number included 1,194 children.
Most of the new arrivals have plans to stay with or contact relatives in Budapest, while 119 people asked the authorities for help with accommodation, the police said.
Police officers are on duty at Budapest’s Keleti and Nyugati railway stations to help people fleeing from war-hit Ukraine. They are working in cooperation with the disaster management authority, the immigration office, the national railway MÁV, Budapest’s public transport company, and charity organisations, police.hu said.
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Hungary Helps programme
On top of support of 3 billion forints handed to six charities, the government is providing 1.35 billion in support of the Transcarpathian region as part of the Hungary Helps programme helping local communities and people who are internally displaced.
Azbej Tristan, the state secretary of the prime minister’s office responsible for helping persecuted Christians and implementing the Hungary Helps programme, reiterated that Hungary, as the first safe country, is receiving refugees from Ukraine, though it was also helping families who wanted to stay in their homeland, too.
He noted that Hungary is undertaking the biggest humanitarian aid programme in its history, and he thanked the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, the Hungarian Ecumenical Relief Organisation, the Reformed Charity Service, the Baptist Charity Service, the Catholic Charity and the Greek Catholic Diocese of Munkacs for helping Transcarpathians.
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