Feb 28 (Reuters) – At least 400,000 Ukrainian refugees have entered EU territory so far, and the bloc needs to prepare for millions of arrivals, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said on Monday.
On Sunday, the figure stood at around 300,000.
Johansson was speaking during a visit to a border crossing in Romania. More than 74,000 have entered the country from Ukraine since Feb. 24.
The head of a U.N. agency said on Monday that more than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries since the start of Russia’s invasion last week.
Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, made the remarks on his Twitter feed as the global agency’s chief said its teams were stepping up humanitarian efforts amid escalating rights abuses there.
ave fled to Romania since Russia invaded Ukraine, and more than half of them have already exited the country through its Bulgarian and Hungarian borders, government spokesman Dan Carbunaru said on Monday.
He added the Romanian government has organized the shipment of humanitarian aid to Ukraine from donations made by civic society, including medicine and other sanitary products, food, water, winter clothes and blankets.
Separately, thousands of volunteers of civic tech activist group Code for Romania have built online platforms for the management of resources and volunteers which they made available to authorities.
Photo – Ukrainian refugees pass the Romanian-Ukrainian border crossing point in Siret, northern Romania. EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT
