Warsaw

I spent several days in Warsaw for meetings. A friend in Russia told me Russian-speakers were concerned about the reaction to speaking Russian in Poland. I don't know about much of the country, but at least in Warsaw and Krakow, no one seemed to care what language people use. Presumably, many people in Poland were speaking Russian before the war in Ukraine. Now, I hear Russian spoken openly on the streets. No one seems to care.

Also, I saw that Polish people were very helpful to Ukrainian refugees in public places. They helped them with luggage, donated money and food quickly, and offered directions. 

A friend with a child in elementary school in Warsaw told me that his son's school already has more than 30 Ukrainian children attending. Most are living with Polish familes. A couple I know drove over 300 miles to pick a family up at the border and drive them home for safe housing. However, there are limits to how many refugees Poland, Romania, Moldova and other neighboring countries can effectively accept. It is said now that 1 in every 2 Ukrainian children is displaced. And that there are 10,000,000 displaced people. Where will they go? It has been suggested to me by Russians that this is Putin's plan to destabilize the countries nearest him in the western world and NATO. I am not sure that was his plan, but I do believe that anything destabilizing in Central Europe is welcome to him.

What will countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and France do? We can not expect our friends in Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine to bear the entire burden. To this date, the United States has only committed to accepting 100,000 refugees. I don't believe that is enough.

Some will say we should have taken in more refugees of other conflicts. I agree.