Ukraine war: Europe opens its doors as 368,000 Ukrainian refugees flee in just over three days
More than 360,000 people have fled Ukraine in the three days since Russia began its invasion, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Sunday.
Some walked many miles through the night while others fled by train, car or bus, forming lines kilometres long at border crossings with neighbouring countries: Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Some even fled into Belarus.
Those arriving were primarily women, children and the elderly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prohibited men of military age from 18 to 60 from leaving.
UNHCR said on Sunday morning that 368,000 had fled Ukraine, with 45,200 arriving in Poland in just 15 hours.
The agency's spokesman, Chris Melzer, said there were queues of 14 kilometres at the Poland-Ukraine border and waiting times of 40 hours.
The agency expects up to 4 million Ukrainians could flee if the situation deteriorates further.
In contrast to other conflicts around the globe, Russia's attack on its Western neighbour has ignited a massive outpouring of support for the fleeing Ukrainians.
This included an unconditional welcome from nations like Poland and Hungary that did not want to accept those fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
Poland declared its border open to fleeing Ukrainians -- even those without official documents -- and dropped its requirement to show a negative COVID-19 test.
On Saturday, the Polish authorities sent a hospital train to pick up those wounded in the war in Mostyska, in western Ukraine, and bring them to the Polish capital of Warsaw for treatment.
The hospital train left the border town of Przemysl with five carriages to transport the wounded and four others stocked with humanitarian aid for Ukraine's Lviv district.
Poland's government
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