Spain intensifies reception with the arrival of minors from an orphanage

Madrid, 15 Mar Spain intensifies its reception of refugees with the arrival of a group of minors from an orphanage today and the opening of new reception centers, while Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares travels to Poland and Moldova to learn about the situation of refugees, who have already been granted 559 permits of residence in our country. Government sources have told Efe that among the people who will arrive in Asturias on Tuesday are 84 users of the orphanage of a war zone in Donetsk - 25 minors and 59 people with disabilities - and another 26 adults, of whom 9 are professionals in the facilities and the rest are companions. Asturias will take care of minors, many of them unaccompanied, and the central Government will take care of the adults traveling with them. The Ukrainian authorities asked the Government for help in evacuating these minors, after 16 minors arrived in Fuerteventura last Friday from another institution located 30 kilometers from Kiev. Also on Friday, some thirty Ukrainian children suffering from cancer arrived in Madrid to continue their treatment in Spain. The situation of minors living in orphanages and other centers in Ukraine has been echoed by the oenegé Save the Children, which estimates that some 100,000 children are at risk of being abandoned or permanently separated from their families during the war. On another front of action, the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, announced on Monday that the refugee reception center in the City of Light in Alicante will open its doors tomorrow, while that of La Fira de Barcelona will open its doors on Friday, and that a fourth center is being planned to open in Malaga. And all this while the Ministry of the Interior processes residence permits for Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Spain during the first three days of operation of the reception and reception center in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid). To date, the National Police and the Office of Asylum and Refugee (OAR) have successfully processed and resolved 559 applications for temporary protection, the EU-activated legal framework that immediately grants residence and work permits to displaced Ukrainians. While this is happening in Spain, diplomatic activity continues on the Ukrainian border. Albares travels there late in the afternoon of Tuesday afternoon, starting a tour of Moldova - one of the countries receiving humanitarian aid sent by Spain - and Poland, where resources worth almost 400,000 euros have been sent. In Poland, he plans to spend several hours touring the border area with Ukraine, where more than two million people have already crossed seeking refuge. Parallel to diplomatic activity, particular solidarity initiatives continue to be developed, including an expedition from Ourense that left on Monday to the border with two buses and a trailer truck loaded with humanitarian aid. Its objective: to collect 96 refugees. Also, the mayor of Ares (A Coruña), Julio Iglesias, left on Monday with the intention of picking up fifty Ukrainians on the border with Poland, where Madrid taxi drivers carrying medicines and basic necessities have also arrived. After traveling 3,000 kilometers they return to Madrid after picking up 135 people.