Cyprus Minister of Interior met with Ukrainian Ambassador to discuss refugees issues

Cyprus Minister of Interior, Nicos Nouris, met with Ukrainian Ambassador Ruslan Nimchynskyi today, to discuss issues regarding the arrival of Ukrainian refuges in Cyprus.

The meeting took place in the Office of the Minister of Interior. Practical issues were discussed, as well as the necessary assistance for people arriving without documents and the need to determine the exact number of Ukrainian refuges in Cyprus.

After the meeting, N. Nouris said that the Government of Cyprus has set a plan to provided assistance to Ukrainians fleeing the war, which will be approved by the Cabinet this coming Tuesday. “We have set up a communication channel between the Embassy and the Ministry, the Immigration Department in particular”, the Minister said and stressed that special attention is needed in the case of Ukrainian refugees that might arrive in Cyprus without any papers.

He also said that the exact number of refugees needs to be determined. “The Embassy has received less demands, than the number of arrivals from Ukraine that we have recorded”, he said and explained that this might be due to the fact that some are staying with families or visiting for professional reasons. He concluded by wishing that the war will be over soon and everything will be back to normal.

The Ukrainian Ambassador on his behalf expressed his gratitude towards the Government and the people of Cyprus for the words of support and admiration, on how his country is “standing in this massive and tragic war”. As he said, the discussion with the Cypriot Minister is “another evidence of how strongly the Government of the Republic and the people of Cyprus are standing by our side in these extremely difficult days”.

“We have agreed to maintain a close coordination 24/7 between different Offices and agencies and the Embassy and the Ukrainian community in Cyprus, so that we could immediately react on any situation in relation to Ukrainians, on how to stay here”, he added. He expressed the wish that some sort of agreement will be reached in the nearest future, so that the war will stop, but he stressed out that “whatever the situation might be in the future, the main goal for is to make sure that we are ready to provide anything that is needed, once we see a growing number of Ukrainians coming here.”