Conflicts – Frankfurt am Main – Ukraine refugees from Moldova landed in Frankfurt – politics
Frankfurt/Main (dpa) – For the first time, a plane has brought Ukraine refugees from Moldova directly to Germany. Around 130 people – mainly women and children – landed in a plane at Frankfurt Airport on Friday evening. That was the start of the international airlift initiated by the federal government for people who had fled to countries neighboring Ukraine, which was under attack from Russia. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) received the people at Germany’s largest airport.
These were to be taken by bus to Bitburg in the Eifel region of Rhineland-Palatinate for initial reception. According to Faeser, the federal state had agreed to take in the refugees. Because of the Russian attack on Ukraine, millions of people are fleeing west. Germany had offered the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine’s smallest and economically weakest neighboring country, to take on up to 2,500 refugees directly. Other federal states also agree to initial admission.
According to the statement, Foreign Minister Baerbock said that she recently spoke to people in Moldova on the Ukrainian border “who had to flee from the Russian tanks with their children and a few things and had to leave their entire lives behind”. There they announced the establishment of a “humanitarian airlift”. Their first plane was “a shining sign of humanity in these dark times” on Friday. Other machines would follow.
Interior Minister Faeser explained: “Germany can be a hub for fair distribution in Europe. In view of the terrible suffering of the refugees, we also want to ensure shorter travel distances, rapid medical treatment and good accommodation.”
Baerbock said that “solidarity hubs” should also be created in other European countries neighboring Ukraine. These could work with planes, but also with trains, for example to Poland France and with buses, for example from Hungary to Croatia. According to the Foreign Minister, further air bridges must be created. All 27 EU countries as well as the USA, Canada and Japan have pledged to grant protection to war refugees.
Faeser added that the freedom of movement for Ukraine refugees in Germany was positive. Some of the arrivals on Friday were picked up by relatives and friends at Frankfurt Airport. At the same time, this freedom is an organizational challenge – for municipalities, for example, if they do not know exactly how many children will be added to daycare centers and schools. A registration in the initial reception as in Bitburg should help here.
The State Secretary in the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Integration, David Profit (Greens), said that the new refugees in Bitburg in the Eifel should first “come to rest” there. Some also brought pets. Profit emphasized: “We cannot just sit still while a war is going on in Europe.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220324-99-658732/5