Bratislava

Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, is a very centralized city on a continent that has received many refugees and asylum seekers. Despite this, Slovakia only recently began to accept refugees, with the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine being the primary catalyst for this change. There are over 145,000 Ukrainian refugees currently recorded in Slovakia, since the invasion in 2022*. Slovakia has also seen a number of migrants pass through the country on their way to other EU nations, with varying levels of receptivity. Situated on the far western border of Slovakia, Bratislava is within a few hours drive of major European capitals such as Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. As a Slavic language, Slovak shares some similarities with both Ukrainian and Russian, meaning that forcibly displaced people from those places are generally able to pick up Slovak more quickly than other (non-Slavic) people groups. Due to Slovakia’s history as a satellite state of the former Soviet Union, the initial response to refugees fleeing Ukraine was very positive and receptive. As the war has gone on for nearly four years, government and public welcome alike have dwindled as compassion fatigue has set in. *Source: https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine