Although so far there has not been an increase in the number of migrants from Ukraine entering Slovakia, some local authorities in the border area wondered how they would deal with a large influx of refugees.
“The papers write that about 100,000 to 200,000 people could come , but it may actually be a million, what will happen then? Who'll take care of them? Who'll feed them? They may come with weapons; what will we do then?" said Erik Cap, a councillor from the town of Snina (Prešov region) during his visit to the Ubla-Malyi Bereznyi border crossing. “The town of Sečovce [Prešov region] has a refugee camp for 176 people. It's sufficient for now, but I'm being asked every day if the capacity will be enough, and so I want to hear an answer to this question too”, said the town's mayor Jozef Gamrat. Ubla's mayor Nadežda Sirková, for her part, urged calm, saying that there's no reason to panic. “People here are cool and unruffled, they go shopping in Ukraine on foot and by car just like before ... I'm no expert in state defence, but if something does come about, then we'd be able to take initial measures needed to receive people who could then potentially apply for asylum”, she added.
The Interior Ministry reacted to the concerns of locals by saying it has no information on possible mass inflows of refugees from Ukraine into Slovakia. “Two Ukrainians from Crimea have placed requests for asylum in Slovakia, with the usual process under way. Detained immigrants who cross the border illegally are usually from Asian countries”, said Ivan Netik from the ministry's press department. He added that surveillance at the border has been increased.
