The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNESCO , UNHCR
Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: UNHCR Expands Operations in Poland for Ukrainian Refugees 27 May 2022
Amid rising needs of vulnerable Ukrainian refugees arriving to Poland, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has scaled up its activities in the country to provide aid as Poland continues to be the main country of arrival for Ukrainian refugees. More than 3.5 million have entered the country since the beginning of the war on 24 February.
Speaking from Warsaw at a news briefing at the United Nations in Geneva, UNHCR’s spokesperson Olga Sarrado said that “newly arrived refugees often come from areas heavily affected by the fighting, some having spent weeks hiding in bomb shelters and basements”. She added that “they often arrive in a state of distress and anxiety, having left family members behind, without a clear plan for where to go, and with less economic resources and connections than those who fled earlier”.
Noting that “the pace of arrivals has slowed down in comparison to early March, when over 100,000 people were arriving per day, to around 20,000 daily in the course of May”, Olga Sarrado said that “we have also seen more ‘pendular’ movements, where people go back and forth across the border to Ukraine for various reasons, including visiting families, checking their properties or returning to their jobs”.
Health services and medical needs are the main queries UNHCR staff receive from refugees. Other requests concern transportation, financial support, psychosocial needs, accommodation and access to social services, including for people with disabilities and older people.
UNHCR estimates that roughly “about 50 per cent of them would like to stay in Poland”. According to Olga Sarrado “the Polish authorities were mentioning as well that in between 1.5 to 2 million would be staying in their country.”
Given the large internal displacement due to the massive destruction and the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, Poland expects to continue receiving large numbers of refugees.
Poland has put in place systems to ensure legal stay, access to employment, education, health care and other social welfare schemes for Ukrainian refugees.
“Over 1.1 million have registered with the Polish authorities, meaning they have received a state ID number (called PESEL), which gives them access to the services; 94 per cent of those registered are women and children”, said Ms. Sarrado.
UNHCR rolled out its cash assistance programme in March. As of today, UNHCR has established eight cash enrollment centres in the main refugee hosting areas, including Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, Ostroda, Gdynia and Gdansk. Over 100,000 refugees from Ukraine have already received financial support from UNHCR to cover their basic needs, such as paying rent or buying food and medicine.
According to UNHCR’s Ms Sarrado, “almost 20 per cent of those refugees that enrolled for cash assistance have specific needs.” She added that ”aid is provided to serious medical cases, older people, single mothers without family support, women at risk and people with disabilities and half of the children with specific needs are separated or unaccompanied.”
Cash is provided for a three-month period to those most in need until they can better support themselves or be included in government social protection systems.
-ends-
- Exterior medium shot, United Nations flag alley, a sunny day.
- Medium shot, participants typing on laptops in the foreground with TV screen showing speaker delivering the speech in the background.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Olga Sarrado, UNHCR spokesperson (from Poland): “The pace of arrivals has slowed down in comparison to early March, when over 100,000 people were arriving per day, to around 20,000 daily in the course of May.”
- Close-up, TV screen showing the speaker is delivering the speech.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Olga Sarrado, UNHCR spokesperson (from Poland): “We have also seen more ‘pendular’ movements, where people go back and forth across the border to Ukraine for various reasons, including visiting families, checking their properties or returning to their jobs.”
- Close-up, fingers typing on the laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Olga Sarrado, UNHCR spokesperson (from Poland): “Our estimates, because of the interviews that we are doing in border monitoring, roughly say that about 50 per cent of them would like to stay in Poland. And actually, yesterday the Polish authorities were mentioning as well that in between 1.5 to 2 million would be staying in their country.”
- Close-up, fingers typing on the laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Olga Sarrado, UNHCR spokesperson (from Poland): “Newly arrived refugees often come from areas heavily affected by the fighting, some having spent weeks hiding in bomb shelters and basements. They often arrive in a state of distress and anxiety, having left family members behind, without a clear plan on where to go, and with less economic resources and connections than those who fled before.”
- Close-up, participants, blurred, with TV screen showing Olga Sarrado delivering remote message to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Olga Sarrado, UNHCR spokesperson (from Poland): “Over 1.1 million have registered with the Polish authorities, meaning, they have received a state ID number (called PESEL), which gives them access to the services; 94 per cent of those registered are women and children.”
- Medium shot, two participants, seated, following the press conference.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Olga Sarrado, UNHCR spokesperson (from Poland): “Almost 20 per cent of those refugees that enrolled for cash assistance have specific needs. Aid is provided to serious medical cases, older people, single mothers without family support, women at risk and people with disabilities and half of the children with specific needs are separated or unaccompanied.”
- Medium shot, two participants in front of their laptops, with TV screen showing speaker to rear.
- Close-up, participant with TV screen showing speaker delivering the speech to rear.
- Medium shot, participants seated, a journalist is holding a microphone and asking questions.
- Close-up, participants listening.
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying, a sunny day.
Similar Stories
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on the human rights situation in Haiti.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the wartorn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. “A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn't save lives. That's the question that actually matters," said Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the OPT.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC: Early access to care and oxygen decisive for Ebola patients’ survival – WHO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UN
Civilians in Iran are continuing to feel the consequences of months of conflict and military escalation, the UN’s top official in the country has said, as loss of life, damage to civilian infrastructure and mounting economic pressures leave many facing continued uncertainty.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Displacement on the rise in Yemen as fighting continues - UNHCR
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.