As hundreds of thousands continue to flee Ukraine for safety from the Russian invaders, the Romanian Patriarchate announced that it will provide housing in various parishes for refugees.
The Orthodox Times reported that the Archdiocese of Bucharest has prepared housing suitable for 300 people in various locations in their locality. The assistance offered by the archdiocese to refugees was discussed on air during an interview of its Social-Philantrophic Counselor Fr. Ionut Tutea at Radio Trinitas.
"We have already identified more than 100 accommodation spaces for refugees, which means that we can accommodate over 300 people in parish houses or other spaces specially set up and made available by parishes in Bucharest and within the archdiocese. We hope that in the coming days, we will send the first bus to bring refugees here," Tutea said.
To speed up their assistance, the archdiocese has also launched a fundraiser that ends on March 10. The fundraiser will be used for the needs of the refugees in their respective housing facilities once they have been taken under the aid of the archdiocese.
"These funds will be used for faster intervention. When they identify problems, our colleagues from Suceava, from Maramureș, from Iași signal certain needs to us and we can intervene to buy things locally that we can offer to the refugees," Tutea explained.
Prior to the housing and fundraiser, the archdiocese also sent truck-loads of food and essential products on Tuesday for Ukrainian refugees located in Chisinau, Moldova, which is roughly seven hours from Bucharest. The humanitarian support came as a response of the Romanian Patriarchate to the request of the Metropolis of Bessarabia Social Mission's "Diaconia."
Archdiocese of Bucharest Social-Philantrophic Sector Coordinating Patriarchal Counselor Fr. Ciprian Ionita told Radio Trinitas that it was the first humanitarian effort they have carried out for the Ukrainian refugees. Ionita disclosed that they executed the delivery through the aid of Filantropia Federation, Help With Joy, and other church NGOs in Romania. The priest said the Diaconia Social Mission particularly asked for children's clothes and "food for the little ones." But they included non-perishable food, blankets, and sanitary ware in the delivery.
According to Reuters, at least 139,000 Ukrainians have fleed to Romania since the Russian invasion was launched last Thursday, February 24. The data is based on border police data from four land border checkpoints with Ukraine and with Moldova. Roughly 88,000 of the said refugees have flown or driven out of Romania for other countries.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimated last Sunday that roughly 368,000 Ukrainians have crossed safely to Moldova, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and other nearby countries. This number has almost doubled on Tuesday. The UNHCR estimated a total of 4 million Ukrainians will leave their country, causing the worst refugee crisis in European history.
"Around 660,000 refugees have now fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the past six days, according to the latest government data compiled by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century, and UNHCR is mobilizing resources to respond as quickly and effectively as possible, " UNHCR Spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said on Tuesday during a Geneva press briefing.
On Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi announced that Ukrainian refugees have already reached the 1 million mark.
