Dozens of families of Polish descent have arrived in Poland as part of a mission to evacuate them from eastern Ukraine.

Despite a couple of weeks of delay, the mission to bring back the families from around the combat-scarred city of Donetsk has been successful.

Emotions ran high at the Malbork military airport where the 178 refugees landed, with several people breaking in tears.

Anatol Terlecki, from the Association of Poles in Ukraine told Polish Radio that many of these people “left their homes, their parents – just like during a war.”

“This evacuation covers only those people affected by the fighting,” Marcin Wojciechowski, spokesperson of the Polish Foreign Ministry said, adding that these include people whose life was in danger because of living in proximity to the conflict.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs will assume a leading role in helping these individuals settle in their new circumstances. They will be assisted with issues such as customs clearance, and will be escorted by a military convoy to special lodging facilities near the northern Polish city of Malbork. (rg)