The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that Europe must "prepare to receive 5 million people" from Ukraine, before a meeting of EU ministers to be held in Montpellier.
"We need to have a more political vision of our aid, to ensure that the international community establishes a coalition to help the Ukrainian refugees, both those who are inside and continue the battle, and those who have left, to to escape, to save their lives, and to whom we must give a welcome, as we did… Afghanistan is a bad example, because we did not receive 5 million Afghans in Europe.
In this case, we must prepare to receive around 5 million people, "
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On Sunday, the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) listed exactly 1,534,792 Ukrainian refugees on its dedicated website, Sunday afternoon.
These are nearly 166,000 more people than during the previous tally on Friday.
The authorities and the UN expect the flow of refugees to intensify, as the Russian army continues its offensive, particularly on Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.