More than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine to escape the war, according to figures released by the United Nations today, leaving Eastern Europe struggling to provide care, education and employment, despite the number of those crossing the border daily is declining.
As announced by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, number of Ukrainians who have left the country today amounts to 3,528,346 with more than two million having crossed the border with Poland.
“This is another tragic milestone for the people of Ukraine and has occurred in less than a month,” UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmars told a news conference, adding that 6.5 million people were internally displaced in Ukraine.
“We are talking about almost a quarter of the total population. The speed and extent of this flow and this displacement crisis is unprecedented in recent years.”
The millions of people who have left Ukraine left on foot, by train, bus or car to neighboring countries such as Poland and Romania before, some of them, continue their journey to the rest of Europe.
Most, however, have not continued.
While fewer have crossed the border in recent weeks, the scope of the housing project for those seeking safety in the EU is becoming increasingly apparent, especially in Eastern and Central Europe.
Poland, the country that hosted the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the region even before the war, has received more than 2.1 million people, and while some plan to relocate, the influx of refugees has already caused serious problems for public services.
“The number of refugee children from Ukraine in Polish schools is increasing by about 10,000 a day,” Education Minister Przemyslaw Tsarnek told state radio, adding that 85,000 children have been enrolled in Polish schools.
Tsarnek said authorities are organizing beginner-language classes in Ukrainian for Ukrainian teachers so they can work in local schools and teach preliminary classes for children from Ukraine before they enter school.
With men of combat age being forced to stay in Ukraine to fight, the refugee waves include mainly women and childrenmany of whom want to take refuge in neighboring Ukraine to be close to their loved ones who are left behind.
In a video posted on Twitter, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Czaskowski says 10,000 Ukrainian students have been enrolled in the capital’s schools and that a number of options, including Ukrainian online courses, are needed to prevent a collapse of the education system.
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