“Pennsylvania is ready to welcome people fleeing Ukraine. They can count on finding a safe home here.”
Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed dedicating $2 million to the state Office of Refugee Resettlement to help Ukrainian refugees settle in Pennsylvania.
“The fact that a peaceful sovereign nation has been unjustly attacked and invaded by a geopolitical bully has, rightly, drawn the attention and indignation of the entire world,” Wolf said on Twitter.
“Pennsylvania is ready to welcome people fleeing Ukraine. They can count on finding a safe home here.”
More than 97,000 Ukrainians or people of Ukrainian descent already live in Pennsylvania, giving the Keystone State the second-largest population of Ukrainian Americans in the US.
State officials have taken several steps to show support for the Ukrainian people as Russia continues its assault on the country:
- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board removed all Russian-made alcohol from its shelves.
- The state treasury has divested most of the $2.9 million it had invested in Russian assets.
- Two of the state’s largest pension funds have begun divesting a combined total of $307 million in Russian and Belarusian assets.
Wolf said he needs state lawmakers to draft legislation to continue divestment efforts and dedicate funding to refugee resettlement.
“At a time when Russia is trying to sow division in our world, we must unite to oppose injustice,” Wolf said on Twitter.
“We must come together to support the people who have had war inflicted upon their homes, their families, and their country.”
