Belgian royal family says it will host three Ukrainian families in two of its houses

The Belgian royal family will host three Ukrainian families fleeing their war-torn home in two of its houses in Belgium.

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde have decided to open up two of their homes owned by the Belgium’s Royal Trust to Ukrainian refugees. 

The two houses are in Brussels and in the southern region of Wallonia, reports the BBC.

The move comes after King Phillipe met Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, at a registration centre at the Brussels Expo building.

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde (pictured together in 2019 in South Korea) have decided to open up two of their homes owned by the Belgium’s Royal Trust to Ukrainian refugees

King Philippe visited the reception center for Ukrainian refugees at an immigration in Brussels on Wednesday

A spokesman for the Royal Palace said that the King had been moved by the experience and announced the decision to host Ukrainian families shortly afterwards.

The Belgian royal family has in the past hosted the most vulnerable people in their royal households. 

Last year, they accomodated people who had lost their homes in Belgium’s worst floods in houses owned by the Royal Trust. 

More than three million people have fled Ukraine following Russia’s February 24 invasion of the country. More than half have gone to Poland, whilst more than 10,000 have registered in Belgium where they have been given international protection.

People who fled the war in Ukraine wait at the train station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, on Thursday

moke and flames rise due to fire broke out after Russian rockets hit warehouses in Sviatoshynskyi district, Kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday

Speaking about the houses where the Ukrainian refugees will by housed by the royal family, President of the Royal Trust Jan Smets told RTBF: ‘This is housing whose original purpose was to be made available to social agencies to accommodate people on low incomes, a mission that corresponds with what we hope to achieve at the Royal Trust.’

He added that the accommodation would now be used to host Ukrainian families fleeing the war, where thousands of people have been killed. 

In the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, at least 53 people had been brought to morgues over the past 24 hours, and at least 15 were killed when Russian artillery destroyed a school and a community centre in Merefa. 

Putin faced further allegations of war crimes on Wednesday after video of an attack that was later confirmed by Ukraine’s prosecutor general showed at least 10 civilians gunned down while they were queueing for bread outside Chernihiv.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general confirmed in a statement the attack by Russian forces who ‘fired at people standing in line for bread near a grocery store.’ While new drone footage appeared to show Russian soldiers executing a lone Ukrainian civilian as he held his hands up to surrender on a highway west of Kyiv last week.

Russian rocket attacks also targeted a convoy of people fleeing Mariupol, killing civilians, including children, on Wednesday after earlier strikes targeted a nearby hub for displaced people. It is not yet known how many were killed in the shelling but an image from the scene showed a burnt out car, with a damaged door blown open.

Meanwhile Zakharova today warned that giving Ukraine air defence systems, as requested by Ukraine’s president in the US Congress on Wednesday, would be a destabilising factor that would ‘definitely not bring peace to Ukraine’ and ‘could have much more dangerous consequences’.