Photo/Illutration Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi answers questions during a news conference in Warsaw on April 2. (Yuich Nobira)

WARSAW--Visiting Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi inspected a shelter here packed with Ukrainian refugees as plans unfolded for some of them to accompany him on the government plane back to Japan on April 5.

At this point, it remains unclear how many of them would want to take refuge in a country so far from their homeland and with such a different culture.

Hayashi was visiting Poland as a special envoy from April 2 to make a first-hand assessment of the growing humanitarian crisis in Poland triggered by Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Prior to visiting the shelter, Hayashi met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in Warsaw to outline Japan’s support program for Ukrainian refugees.

Kuleba expressed his country’s gratitude to Japan for the gesture, according to Japanese officials.

At a facility he visited, Hayashi was told it housed around 2,500 Ukrainian women, children and older adults. Most of them are hoping to move to other European countries, according to officials who accompanied him on the tour.

Polish officials said busloads of evacuees are leaving the shelter almost every day for new destinations.

As of April 1, about 4.13 million people had fled from the war in Ukraine, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Poland, which borders with Ukraine, is currently hosting more than 2.4 million Ukrainian evacuees.

In a joint statement issued by Group of Seven leaders on March 24, member countries highlighted “the need to further increase international assistance to countries neighboring Ukraine, and, as a concrete contribution to this end, underline our commitment to receiving, protecting, and supporting refugees and displaced persons as a consequence of the conflict.

“We thus all stand ready to welcome them on our territories.”

After the tour, Hayashi said, “Japan is committed to doing its best to help refugees return to normalcy.”

The foreign minister was expected to visit an emergency liaison office set up by the Japanese government in Rzeszow near the Polish-Ukrainian border on April 3.

As of March 30, Japan had accepted 337 Ukrainians who have relatives or friends living in Japan.

Ukrainians who come to Japan in coming weeks are expected to turn up without that lifeline, which prompted the government April 1 to announce a package of support measures to cover their daily living costs and medical expenses. It also vowed to provide accommodation and help to find jobs.

Japanese officials acknowledged they have no idea how many Ukrainians will want to evacuate to Japan.

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