European nations are stepping up to help Ukrainians flee Russian aggression.
Countries across Europe are bracing for a historic flood of refugees following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began last Thursday, February 24. On Saturday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released a report that estimated that upward of 160,000 Ukrainians had been « internally displaced » within the country and that more than 116,000 people had fled Ukraine. Europe has been preparing for this. In December, Ukraine Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to as many as 5 million Ukrainians seeking refugee status. Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said in a January 28 radio interview that his country was preparing for » a wave of up to a million people. » Polish troops recently set up processing centers along the border and have repurposed an arena to be used as a shelter for 500 people, The New York Times reports.
