There are approximately 22,500 Ukrainian refugees registered in Croatia at the moment, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have registered approximately 22,500 refugees from Ukraine,” Bozinovic told reporters before attending a business breakfast on Croatia’s accession to the Schengen Area, organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia (AmCham) in Zagreb today.

“We wanted them to be distributed more or less all over Croatia. Some have moved on their own accord. The state is taking care of those who had nowhere to go,” he added.

He underscored that the process of receiving Ukrainian refugees was organised “very well and they were accepted here from the very first day without any problems,” said Bozinovic.

“Croatia, as part of the EU and NATO, will do everything in our power to get these people back home as soon as possible,” said Bozinovic.

Croatian rescue team soon to arrive in Turkey

More than five thousand people were killed in an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. A Croatian rescue team with 40 people and ten dogs will also assist in rescue efforts.

Bozinovic said that he expects the Croatian rescue team to arrive in Turkey on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, adding that it is impossible to know precisely when they will reach their destination because “a lot of infrastructure, including traffic, has been damaged.”

“However, our team (…) is self-sufficient, which means that they take with them everything they need to work and live for ten days,” he underscored.

“I think it makes it easier for the Turkish hosts to engage forces like that because in situations like this, we cannot expect the host country to take care of such matters like food and accommodation or the equipment they will use,” he added.