Eastern Slovak Responses to the Ad Hoc Influx of Refugees from Ukraine: A Case Study of Refugee Assistance by the University of Presov in the Context of Emotionality

The world has changed after February 24, 2022. In the civilized region of Europe, one sovereign country—Russia—has launched a military attack on another sovereign country—Ukraine—with which it had formed a common state three decades ago. This previously unimaginable step inflicted enormous material losses on Ukraine and, in particular, casualties to the Ukrainian people, who, under imminent threat, were choosing to leave their country either temporarily or permanently. At the same time, however, this tragedy also raised a wave of enormous solidarity in the neighboring countries, involving local municipalities, entrepreneurs, humanitarian organizations, the churches and thousands of volunteers. This chapter focuses on such assistance within Slovakia, especially in its eastern part, with the aim of evaluating the activities of the University of Presov as one of the important actors in assisting refugees from Ukraine. Simultaneously, immediate needs, problems, as well as feelings and emotions of the Ukrainian refugees, who were lent a helping hand by the University of Presov, are evaluated by means of quantitative and qualitative methods based on a survey.