Budapest municipality arranges accommodation for 2,000 Ukrainian refugees

The Municipality of Budapest has so far arranged for the accommodation of 2,000 refugees coming from Ukraine and distributed some 25,000 portions of food to those in need, Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss said on Tuesday.

At Budapest railway stations as many refugees have chosen to travel on as the number of those arriving in Hungary from Ukraine over the past days which indicates an easing of pressure, he told an informal roundtable discussion in Budapest.

The first group of refugees are families coming from Ukrainian cities who would typically spend a couple of days in Budapest before travelling on to another country.

They need help mostly in finding accommodation in Budapest, said Kiss.

The second group is students coming from third countries studying in Ukraine.

Some of them spend only a few nights in Budapest before travelling back to their home countries with the assistance of their embassies. The others will spend a longer period of time with the option to get accepted at a Hungarian university.

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The third group is typically made up of Hungarian families coming with many children from the Transcarpathian (Kárpátalja) region in western Ukraine,

most of whom have no plans to travel on to any other country, Kiss said.

In the fourth group there are Hungarian speaking 8-20 member Roma families also arriving from Transcarpathia,

the deputy mayor said, adding that it was mainly refugees belonging to these last two groups that the municipality looked after.

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As regards accommodation, it is provided in the short term in Budapest social blocks whereas in the long term it has so far been ensured to 250 people in hotels outside the city. More than half of the refugees needing accommodation are minors, Kiss said.

The municipality has so far provided meals to 500-600 people on average per day at seven catering points and can increase the capacity to 1,000.

Answering a question, Kiss said

the city has so far spent around 80 million forints (EUR 214,400) on refugee assistance measures.