Some 26,000 citizens of Ukraine arrived in Belarus in past few months - ambassador

14:27, 18.08.2014 1 min read

Some 26,000 citizens of Ukraine arrived in Belarus in the past two months, Belarusian Ambassador to Ukraine Valentin Velichko said.

"Around 26,000 residents of Ukraine left for Belarus in June-July. These are people. We need to think how to occupy them and where they will work," the diplomat told a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.

Velichko said there are issues related to the funding that will need to be allocated for these people in case they are granted refugee status.

The ambassador said the procedure for granting refugee status in Belarus takes some six months, but the period may be reduced to three months.

The diplomat said that some 500 Ukrainians have already applied for refugee status and some 1,500 people have received permanent residence permits. At the same time, over 3,000 refugees intend to apply for temporary residence permits.