A cabinet official said that Denmark wants to shelter Ukrainian migrants in temporary “Ukrainian villages” put up in former schools and hospitals as the country prepared to absorb up to 100,000 people fleeing the conflict.

The strategy differs from standard practice in the Scandinavian kingdom, which has had stringent migration regulations for decades and places asylum seekers and refugees among the country’s 5.8 million residents.

“We started with a normal integration policy, but based on the estimations in front of me, we won’t recognize our welfare society if we just keep going,” Migration Minister Mattias Tesfaye stated in an interview with a foreign news channel.

According to the minister, the number of Ukrainians arriving in Denmark by April 17 could be treble that of Syrians fleeing the country’s civil war in 2015.

“Ukrainians will be housed in a form of Ukrainian village, which may include day care and Ukrainian-language education for youngsters, which Ukrainians will help organize,” he stated.

According to the minister, these “villages” might be set up in former hospital complexes, schools, barracks, or retirement homes that are no longer in use.

Each would house roughly 100 people, though Tesfaye did not say how many the Danish government planned to build.

Last month, Denmark passed a rule allowing Ukrainian asylum applicants to rapidly begin working or attending school, and exempting them from a contentious policy imposed on other asylum seekers that confiscates their assets to fund their reception in Denmark.

The provision, which was passed in 2015, allows Denmark to take cash or items worth more than 10,000 Danish kroner ($1,460) to help people pay for housing while their applications are being processed.

Nearly 19,000 Ukrainians have filed for a residence visa in Denmark since March, with more than 2,600 being approved.