Refugee center chief says 6,000 Ukrainians in Serbia

NEWS 15.04.202212:56
REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

The head of the Asylum Protection Center said that some 6,000 Ukrainian refugees are in Serbia at present.

Center chief Rados Djurovic told K1 TV that most of the refugees who came in from Ukraine are housed in Vojvodina, with family and friends and added that some are in hotels and hostels. Djurovic said that some had the money to buy real estate. Vojvodina in the north of Serbia is multi-ethnic and has a Ukrainian community.

He said that the refugees have to get primary health care and apply for asylum if they want but that most are waiting to see how the situation in their country develops. “If they get asylum they’ll be here for five years,” Djurovic said.

According to Djurovic, the problem lies with the Serbian Refugee Commissariat which treats the refugees from Ukraine in the same way they treated refugees from the former Yugoslavia, giving them a place to live but no other support or protection. He said other European countries are treating Ukrainian refugees better than the official treatment they get and added that religion plays an important part.