exodus of a million people in the first week of war

The fear of war is such that one million ukrainians have left their homes a week of Russian invasionhave left the country and have become, overnight and practically with what they were wearing, refugees. The figure provided by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) It shows that many people have left the country in a very short time, making this population movement the most important since the Second World War. “In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of a million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries,” he said on his Twitter account. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. The migration expert claims not to have seen, in the course of his 40-year experience, such a rapid exodus in such a short period of time.

In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries.

For many millions more, inside Ukraine, it’s time for guns to fall silent, so that life-saving humanitarian assistance can be provided.

— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) March 2, 2022

At this juncture, the European Union (EU) works to put in place a mechanism of foster care of Ukrainian refugees involving the free movement in all EU countriesas well as the guarantee of work and residence permit, access to housing , social care, medical and other kind of Livelihoods. is the first time that the community bloc is launching an aid mechanism of these characteristics to welcome those fleeing the war. In the case of Spain, the Government has been working “for days” on the contingency plan to meet the needs of refugees who may arrive in Spain, a plan that is prepared in close coordination with the autonomous communities, local entities and the diaspora of nearly 120,000 Ukrainians who already reside in Spain.

The neighboring countries of Ukraine –Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova– are being the main recipients of refugees; especially Poland, which has become the first line of reception with the arrival of almost half a million people. There are those who have also crossed these neighboring borders and have reached, for example, the Czech Republic, where there is an important Ukrainian community. The UN high commissioner He is clear that, until the Russian invasion ceases, the citizens of Ukraine will continue to leave and he calculates that the exodus could reach four million people. We must not forget that citizens have left their usual location to move within the country in what is known as internally displaced persons.

Mobilization in Poland

On Polandwhere 1.5 million Ukrainians already lived before the Russian offensive, citizen mobilization to give shelter to newcomers is amplified through social networks to collect money, medicines and channel offers of housing, food, work and transport free.

Hungary it has so far hosted more than 133,000 refugees. The country has five border posts with Ukraine and several neighboring cities, such as Zahony, have made public buildings available to accommodate Ukrainians. Always according to UNHCR data, 97,000 refugees have arrived in Moldovan territory, 51,000 in Romania – two camps have been set up, one in Sighetul and the other in Siret – and 72,000 in Slovakia. Russia has also received about 50,000 people.

Romania will create a large humanitarian coordination center to channel the european aid and distribute it in Ukraine, a country with which it shares more than 600 kilometers of border. This has been announced by Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, during the visit of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to Bucharest, in which the leader of the European Executive stressed that the center is going to play “a great role” also in the long term in the face of the situation in Ukraine. “We are ready to start work immediately,” said the German conservative, after highlighting Romania’s “flexibility and pragmatism” in the face of the crisis.

Newcomer to Moldova

And in the borders, as many stories as people. As the case of Arsen, 15, who has just set foot on Moldovan soil, but he already hopes to return to his native country, Ukraine, from which he has fled after “three or four days of terror, hidden in the basement of a building,” as he explained to the AFP agency. “We have to end this nightmare”, says her mother Irina, with tears in her eyes, as she trembles because of the cold wind blowing in the Palanca border post (eastern Moldova). But more than the cold, she is tormented by fear. “The situation in Ukraine is deteriorating. That’s why I had to make this difficult decision and leave,” says the 40-year-old teacher, her two small dogs in her arms and covered in blankets.

The woman, who prefers not to give her last name, put in a suitcase “documents and some clothes” for her two teenage sons, leaving her mother behind. She “didn’t want to leave Odessa, because too many things bind her” to this port city on the Black Sea, about 40 kilometers from Palanca. “We heard the bombardments, the missiles,” recalls Arsen, who has not fired a shot in the Ukraine and who wants to be a “sailor” one day, like his father currently on board in Argentina.

On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the sound of planes flying near the border could be heard in Leverwhere the flow of refugees does not decline.

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On the narrow road that leads to the border post, escorted by volunteers distributing tea, coffee and snacks, a traffic jam has formed shortly before midnight, between vehicles going to look for refugees and those leaving the place.

The Russian President Vladimir “Putin” he’s a monster, he says he wants to help the Ukrainians, but I don’t need his help,” complains Irina. “Although I speak Russian since my childhood, I’m Ukrainian,” she says proudly.