Immigration minister to visit Ukraine-Poland border

Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata will travel to the Ukrainian-Polish border tonight to meet with the Israeli officials processing Ukrainian refugees’ immigration requests, her office says.

Tamano-Shata will be the second Israeli minister to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February, after Health Minister Nitzan Horovitz traveled to the country last week to visit an Israeli field hospital that was set up in western Ukraine.

The minister will spend most of her time in towns on Ukraine’s border with Poland, where masses of refugees are being sheltered. During the visit, she will meet with a number of officials from Israeli and Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Agency, which processes immigration requests, the United Israel Appeal, which has funded many of the flights taking immigrants to Israel, and Nativ, a governmental organization that reviews the eligibility of potential immigrants.

Tamano-Shata will also meet with a number of Ukrainian refugees waiting to immigrate to Israel. In addition, she is slated to visit the Israeli field hospital in Ukraine.

Thousands of Ukrainians have immigrated to Israel since Russia launched its offensive on February 24, with dozens or hundreds arriving each day. Tens of thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months.

“This is a complicated emergency situation that requires us to ensure that at every stop on their way home, the new immigrants receive fast, sensitive and embracing treatment from our troops in the field who are working under difficult conditions in a time of war,” Tamano-Shata says before boarding her flight.