EESC IN A FLASH with Ionut Sibian Member of the EESC Diversity Europe Group "EESC and civil society's support to Ukrainian refugees" Up to now, we have almost half a million refugees from Ukraine that have entered Romania. Around 6,000 have already asked for asylum in Romania. As the Civil Society Development Foundation, we are supporting over 1,000 NGOs in Romania with grants, with financing and also capacity-building support. I would give you the example of ESTUAR, it is a foundation, they focus on mental health issues. So they also open their centres for Ukrainian refugees in need of psychological support, treating the war trauma. There is another very nice example that I could provide you with the hospice 'The House of Hope'. They have two or three hospitals in Romania and centres treating patients with cancer. So they also open their doors to Ukrainian refugees, but not just for the ones that need cancer treatment, but also for their families and the kids. How has the private sector contributed? Just to give you an example, I am coming back from the food retailer Kaufland, they are already offering 300 jobs in their stores. And there are many other examples of investors and entrepreneurs that are hiring Ukrainian refugees. What is the message from civil society? It's important that us as EESC, we continue working with our colleagues in Ukraine, but also with civil society activists that left Ukraine and now are in the European Union. Our house in Brussels should be their house. And I think this is the message we should give to the outside world. that we are there and will take care of our colleagues from Ukraine to provide them a safety net, moral support and whatever is needed.