No one was prepared for a war in the neighbouring country. No one was trained on how to manage hundreds of thousands of refugees, more than 80 percent of whom are women with children or elderly people. We were scared. They were scared. But we were at home, although we had no idea for how long. On the night when shelling began in Ukraine and the first refugees arrived at the border, Chișinău City Hall was fully mobilized. While the public authorities were thinking of doing something about it, town halls across the country took action so that everyone who arrived in Moldova felt safe from the very first moment.
Mayors from across the country worked together, exchanged experience, handed out humanitarian aid packages, provided mattresses, blankets, water, food, mobilised communities and worked side by side with business people.

The Chișinău City Hall transformed in a few hours the Covid Centre at Moldexpo into a home for refugees, and in the following days created 45 other centers. Thousands of people have passed through these centers. Some of them were in transit, but they needed support and a hot meal anyway. Others stayed, with more than 10,000 people still hosted in Chișinău.
The Mayor of Chișinău Ion Ceban expresses his deep gratitude to all the employees of the municipality, every resident of the capital and economic operator who immediately responded to the call and got involved, offering goods, hot meals, accommodation, medical assistance, psychological support, opening their homes and hearts to people who fled the war, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political beliefs or status. Everyone found a safe haven in Moldova because we all joined forces. With deep gratitude to you, dear Chişinău people!