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Poland welcomes 3.05 million refugees from Ukraine

30.04.2022 09:00
Poland has taken in 3 million and 53 thousand refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Polish Border Guard agency reported on Saturday.
Refugees from war-torn Ukraine at the railway station in the town of Chełm, eastern Poland.
Refugees from war-torn Ukraine at the railway station in the town of Chełm, eastern Poland.Photo: PAP/Wojtek Jargiło

On Friday, 21,800 refugees from Ukraine arrived in the country, compared with 23,600 a day earlier, according to the agency.

Poland last month passed a bill to offer wide-ranging support to Ukrainians escaping their country. The measure grants them legal residence in Poland and ensures access to education, healthcare and social benefits.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said on Friday that more than 5.4 million Ukrainians had fled their country since Russia invaded two months ago, with tens of thousands joining their ranks every day.

The UN is projecting that the war could produce 8.3 million refugees by the end of the year.

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have fled abroad, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up unable to leave, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates more than 7.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine, meaning that more than 13 million people overall have been uprooted by the conflict.

(mo)

Source: IAR, AFP