EU members welcome proposal to extend temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees

LONDON

European Council has welcomed the proposal to extend the temporary protection for more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees until March 4, 2026.

In a statement, Nicole de Moor, the Belgian state secretary for asylum and migration, said the EU members renewed solidarity and decided that they will continue to offer protection to the Ukrainian people in the EU.

"As long as bombs are falling in Ukraine, the situation there is not safe," she said on Thursday.

The temporary protection mechanism was initiated on March 4, 2022, a few days after Russia's war in Ukraine began.

According to the EU, the extension does not change the decision of March 2022 in terms of the categories of persons to whom the temporary protection applies.