More than 1 million people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland since the Russian invasion began on 24 February, the Polish border guard has said.
Poland, which shares a 310-mile border with Ukraine, has taken in the majority of the 1.7 million people who have left their homes since the war began, with aid efforts largely operated by volunteers, as well as NGOs and municipalities.
“Traffic on the Polish-Ukrainian border is growing, today at 7am, 42,000 people arrived in Poland from Ukraine,” the border guard tweeted on Monday. Most people arriving in Poland have found short-term accommodation provided by citizens and private businesses.
Poland has announced plans to set up an 8bn zloty (£1.34bn) fund for people fleeing Ukraine, including the provision of a one-off payment of 300 zloty (£50) for each refugee.
“Our initial assumption is that the fund we will set up will amount to about 8bn zloty,” minister Lukasz Schreiber told broadcaster Radio Plus on Monday, Reuters reported. “That will finance the most urgent supplies and lodging but also access to the labour market, social benefits and education.”
The Polish government plans to introduce an aid package to fund food and temporary lodgings along with measures to allow refugees to work legally and access public healthcare and social assistance. The bill, which would also provide one-off benefits for each refugee and financial help for those hosting Ukrainians, will be approved by parliament on Tuesday in a fast track legislative procedure.
The exodus from Ukraine is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war, according to the UN. Vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians have been fleeing cities under bombardment, including the besieged coastal city of Mariupol.
Data showed Polish border guards cleared as many as 142,300 at border crossings on Sunday, the most in a single day since the war began, and 129,000 people on Saturday.
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, thanked Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, for Poland’s “generous welcome to refugees from Ukraine”.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) March 7, 2022I thanked Prime Minister @MorawieckiM for Poland’s generous welcome to refugees from Ukraine, which I witnessed at the border yesterday.
We agreed on practical ways in which UNHCR and its partners can support the government’s response to the crisis. pic.twitter.com/yKRPzUo7Sq
“We agreed on practical ways in which UNHCR [the UN refugee agency] and its partners can support the government’s response to the crisis,” Grandi said.
Officials have said most people have arrived in Poland with places to go to, but Grandi has warned that growing numbers would put pressure on governments to absorb them.
Over the weekend, at the Medyka crossing, the busiest of Poland’s border crossings, people streamed past boxes of clothes laid out along a path, as Scouts handed out hot tea, food and toiletries. At the nearby town of Przemyśl, NGOs said people needed rest, food and warmth.
Dominika Chylewska, head of communications for Caritas Poland, in Przemyśl, said people had travelled for up to 48 hours and needed places to get warm and sleep. A former supermarket 12 miles from the border had been opened to refugees for short-term stays, she said, and transport was being provided by the authorities.
“Most people we are seeing need a place to stay for one or two days, before travelling to other destinations,” said Chylewska. “We have been giving out sleeping bags at the train station. People with children need prams. They are frozen, there were even people coming barefoot, but most people have small bags.”
Their teams were serving up 1,800 litres of soup at the train station and delivering 20,000 sandwiches to other border points every day, Chylewska said. But psychological support will be needed, particularly for children, she added.
The flow of people towards the border has been driven by what appears to be the deliberate targeting of civilians by Russian forces across the country.
Britain defended its record on welcoming refugees after criticism it was not doing enough and lagging behind its European neighbours.
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said: “You’ve got to remember that two weeks ago this situation didn’t exist at all.”
Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4, he said: “We’re looking to create something at a very, very large scale very, very quickly. Initially, of course, it will be slower than we would like. But that will pick up.”
Britain has announced visa schemes for those who have family in the country or a sponsor. Reports at the weekend said Britain had only issued about 50 visas for Ukrainians so far.
Cleverly said there would be significantly more visas issued than the 50 reported, but could not say what the numbers would be. “This is the largest refugee crisis since the second world war,” he said. “This is a scale that I think very few of us are used to dealing with.”
