EU-Johansson: We must prepare for the arrival of millions of refugees from Ukraine

The EU must prepare for the arrival of millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine to escape the war, said European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ilva Johansson, adding that she believed the governments of the 27 member states would agree on a plan in the coming days. temporary protection of these refugees.

“Almost a million are already here,” Johansson said, with women and children entering the EU via Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, countries bordering Ukraine.

EU interior ministers are meeting in Brussels today and are expected to agree in principle to automatically offer those leaving Ukraine a residence permit, labor market access and protection for up to three years.

“The horrific war of aggression by (Russian President Vladimir Putin) Putin has terrible consequences for the people of Ukraine,” German Interior Minister Nancy Fezer told the meeting.

“Today the goal is for EU member states to agree on a policy so that they can offer assistance without bureaucracy,” he added.

The protection measures, once formally approved by EU governments next week, will apply to Ukrainian citizens as well as those with a residence permit or refugee status without having to go through the time-consuming application process. asylum.

The UN is talking about more than one million refugees

More than a million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last Thursday, according to the latest UN report released today.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had recorded exactly 1,002,860 refugees on its website at 10:00 a.m. Greek time, or 128,834 more than the previous count released yesterday, Wednesday, at noon.

“In just seven days, we saw the departure of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grady said in a Twitter message overnight.

“For millions of others inside Ukraine, it is time for weapons to be silenced so that humanitarian aid can arrive and lives can be saved,” he said.

Authorities and the United Nations expect the influx of refugees to escalate further as the Russian military appears to be focusing its efforts on major Ukrainian cities.

According to the UN, 4 million people may want to leave the country to escape the war.

More than 37 million people live in Ukraine in the territories controlled by Kyiv – which does not include Russia-annexed Crimea and separatist-held areas.

Poland, which has expressed its unwavering support for Ukraine, has welcomed by far the largest number of refugees who have flocked to its territory since the start of the Russian invasion. In total, they amount to 505,582, according to the UNHCR count, or 50.4% of their total number.

According to the Polish border guard, 575,100 people have arrived in Poland, of which 95,000 only yesterday, Wednesday. Also today until 08:00 Greek time, their number amounted to 27,100.

Prior to the crisis, Poland hosted about 1.5 million Ukrainians, most of whom had gone to work in the EU.

Hungary has welcomed 139,686 refugees, or almost 14% of the total, according to the UNHCR.

The country has five border crossings with Ukraine, and border towns such as Zahoni have turned public buildings into aid centers, where Hungarian citizens offer food or aid.

The number of refugees increased in Moldova to 97,827, or 9.8% of the total. In the previous count they amounted to 79,000.

About 72,200 people from Ukraine fled to Slovakia, or 7.2% of the total, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

51,261 refugees have arrived in Romania, according to the UNHCR. This is 5.1% of their total number.

Two camps have been set up there, one in Sigetu Marmati and the other in Siret.

Finally, the UNHCR states that 88,147 people (8.8% of the total number of refugees) continued their journey after crossing the border of Ukraine to other European countries.

With information from AMPE