The mayor of Poland’s capital city, Warsaw, told US broadcaster CNN on Monday that he wanted to convince his American friends to support relief efforts for refugees by donating directly to local governments and charities helping Ukrainians in Poland.
Trzaskowski is in the United States this week to seek assistance for the humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He is scheduled to hold talks with representatives of the US administration, Congress and leaders of the non-governmental sector about their support for Polish local governments and NGOs.
Poland and Warsaw are expecting more refugees to cross the border as the war rages on.
So far, Poland has welcomed more than 2.96 million Ukrainian refugees with around 300,000 of them now living in Warsaw and neighbouring municipalities, according to Polish officials.
“Unfortunately, we see the escalation of the war in Ukraine. And we see more and more people coming, again crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border. And of course, Warsaw is near full capacity. So we need to prepare for more,” Trzaskowski said on CNN’s “Inside Politics” programme.
“And that’s why I’m here, in Washington, because I want to talk to lawmakers, to Joe Biden’s administration, to explain the situation in Poland and also convince our friends here in America that money should go directly to refugees, non-governmental organisations, and also to local governments,” he added.
According to Trzaskowski, Poland and Europe can expect another wave of refugees, therefore a relocation system is needed so that Poland can share the burden with other countries, including the United States, because, as he said, Ukrainians are also fighting for the stability of transatlantic relations.