‘Airlift in Solidarity’ – Germany Demands America Take in More Ukrainian Refugees

Ukrainian evacuees wait to board trains at the rail station in Przemysl, near the Polish-U
ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP via Getty Images
Peter Caddle

Germany’s foreign minister has demanded that America take in more refugees in the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Take more refugees — that’s the message Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has for the Biden administration.

The German politician’s demand comes amid the ongoing refugee crisis caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine, with millions of people fleeing the country since the invasion began last month.

Joe Biden, the current president of the United States, has already reportedly opened the country up to a wide variety of migrants — Ukrainian refugees and otherwise, though it appears that Baerbock believes the country needs to take in even more people.

“We not only need corridors on-site, out of Ukraine, we also need an airlift in solidarity,” the German foreign minister declared according to a report by radio station BR24 before a meeting in Brussels.

“I am here today to appeal to all my European friends, to the world community, and to our transatlantic partners,” she continued. “We need common solidarity for the Ukrainians.”

“Every country has to take in refugees,” Baerbock is also reported as saying.

According to the U.N., over 3.5 million refugees have fled the country since the beginning of Russia’s invasion last month, with a total of 10 million people in total reportedly being displaced by the conflict.

However, Baerbock ultimately expects that 8 million people will end up fleeing the country, with her country of Germany already taking in over 225,000 people since the crisis began.

While the German foreign minister seems committed to putting pressure on the US government to take more refugees, it is unclear whether she will have to push the Democratic establishment too hard to get what she wants.

President Joe Biden has already committed to his nation taking in Ukrainian refugees in a move that has been praised by one organisation linked with notorious billionaire George Soros.

“We’re going to welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms if, in fact, they come all the way here,” Biden said earlier in the month, stopping short of promising the airlift Baerbock is now looking for.

Despite this promise, only around 690 Ukrainian refugees had entered the US as of March 19 according to a report by CNN, though the Democrat administration is expected to bolster that number with a projected record number of illegal immigrants.

According to projections for 2022, 2.1 million illegal immigrants are expected to enter the US this year, breaking the country’s previous record set during the 79-year-old President’s first year in office.

Joe Biden’s America is not the only place looking at taking in an extremely large number of foreign nationals, however.

Ireland is now projecting that as many as 200,000 people could arrive from Ukraine as a result of the ongoing crisis, representing an influx of around four per cent of the country’s total population.

This is despite the island nation already facing a crippling housing crisis, with many first time buyers struggling to get on the market.

“We have to do our best,” said the country’s Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, who emphasised that Ireland needed to “reach out to those of our fellow European citizens who are displaced who have nowhere else to go”.

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