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Poland Repatriates Ethnic Poles From Conflict-Torn Eastern Ukraine


KROLEWO MALBORSKIE, Poland -- A group of ethnic Poles from Ukraine's conflict-torn eastern region of Donetsk has arrived in Poland.

The group, numbering 188, was met by Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo on their arrival from Ukraine in the northern town of Krolewo Malborskie late on November 23.

"Welcome home. We will do everything we can to make you feel safe in the country that is yours now," she told them.

The ethnic Poles, from Mariupol, a port city near separatist-held areas on the Sea of Azov, arrived aboard four planes.

They will be housed for the first six months at a health facility near the city of Olsztyn, where they will undergo intensive Polish language training.

It is the second group of ethnic Poles to leave Ukraine and return to Poland since the conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine in early 2014.

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