East Europeans prepare for possible new Ukrainian refugee wave as winter nears

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian refugees walk on the platform after arriving on a train from Odesa at Przemysl Glowny train station, after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Przemysl, Poland, April 10, 2022. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

PRAGUE/BUDAPEST/WARSAW (Reuters) - Eastern European countries are preparing to reopen reception centres and are restocking food supplies in anticipation of a possible fresh surge in Ukrainian refugees as winter looms and Russia targets Ukraine's power grid and heating plants.

Some 6.9 million people are believed displaced internally within Ukraine, often living in very tough conditions, and the Slovak government's contingency plan envisages the possible inflow of hundreds of thousands of them in coming months.