Ukraine flight: "We have to reckon with millions", EU is alarmed - and tries to turn around

Created: 02/27/2022, 17:49

By: Florian Naumann

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Brussels on Sunday.

©John Thys/AFP

The situation in Ukraine is dramatic.

The EU expects millions of refugees - at the same time the Union wants to create a historic turnaround in dealing with the situation.

Brussels - Also on Sunday (February 27th) there were sometimes heavy fighting in Ukraine - many people in the country are suffering from fear of death and also destruction.

The EU now expects a huge refugee movement in the wake of the Ukraine conflict *.

She does not know how many people will come, said EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Sunday before a crisis meeting in Brussels.

"I think we have to prepare for millions," said the Swede.

Germany is also preparing for a massive flight from Ukraine - and, according to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), wants to rely on "unbureaucratic solutions" and a "strong signal".

Faeser spoke of a "total paradigm shift" in the conflict.

Chancellor and party member Olaf Scholz had previously spoken of a "turning point" in the Bundestag.

Ukraine war: So far 300,000 Ukrainians in the EU - Commissioner expects a larger influx

According to Johansson, around 300,000 Ukrainians have come to the EU* because of the Russian war.

However, few had applied for asylum or sought protection in Member States' shelters.

Instead, they stayed with friends or relatives.

But you have to be prepared for the fact that many more people will arrive from Ukraine*, said Johansson.

She will therefore propose a solidarity platform to coordinate the help of the EU countries.

So far, no EU country has asked for the redistribution of refugees, including none directly on the border with Ukraine like Poland or Slovakia.

According to the Polish border guard, more than 200,000 refugees have arrived in Poland since the start of the Ukraine war.

Only Moldova asked the EU for help, it said.

So far, the accommodation of refugees has been one of the main controversial issues in the EU*.

But there is great solidarity in the Ukraine conflict. Well over 100,000 people took to the streets in Berlin on Sunday against the Kremlin's war.

Ukraine conflict: Faeser wants a paradigm shift for refugees - "It's war in Europe again"

"For us, the main thing now is to find unbureaucratic solutions to get people to safety as quickly as possible," said Minister Faeser.

“For the first time it is war in Europe again.

And it would of course be a very strong signal if Europe agreed today on this humanitarian admission and as unbureaucratically as possible.”

One option is to enforce the EU directive in the event of a "mass influx" of displaced people, Faeser said.

However, this must first be discussed among the EU countries.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she was ready to propose EU states to put the directive into effect.

This would then require the approval of a majority of EU countries.

Specifically, displaced persons could be granted immediate temporary protection without lengthy asylum procedures.

The directive is intended to be applied when there are potentially so many asylum applications that the standard procedure could have negative effects on processing.

In doing so, common minimum standards would have to be observed.

This includes, for example, a work permit and access to social assistance, medical care, education for minors and, under certain conditions, the possibility of family reunification.

The voluntary redistribution of refugees in the EU is also possible.

The directive is a consequence of the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

There, too, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, there was recently a highly critical political situation*.

EU in the Ukraine war: a number of countries ready to take in refugees - WHO warns of a serious emergency

Support for triggering the directive came from France, which currently holds the presidency of the EU states, and from Belgium.

A number of states also showed their willingness to take in refugees and called for EU-wide solidarity.

"I hope that we will be able to jointly take responsibility for the people fleeing Russian aggression," said Swedish Interior Minister Anders Ygeman.

A warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown how serious the situation in Ukraine* is in some cases: it sees a dangerous bottleneck in the supply of oxygen in Ukrainian hospitals.

"The oxygen supply situation is approaching a very dangerous point in Ukraine," a WHO statement said on Sunday.

Trucks are unable to bring supplies from factories across the country to hospitals, including in the capital Kyiv, the statement said.

The supplies in some clinics could already be used up in the next 24 hours, in some places it is even so far.

Thousands of lives would be endangered.

A map from

shows which Ukrainian areas Russia has been able to bring under its control so far.

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