Ukraine in distress: UN sees “fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II”

Created: 03/06/2022, 16:41

By: Astrid Theil

A Ukrainian woman arrives in the Polish border town of Medyka with her baby.

© Markus Schreiber/AP/dpa

More than 1.5 million people have already fled to other countries before the war in Ukraine - a total of 4 million people could do so.

38,000 refugees have already arrived in Germany.

Kyiv/Berlin - More than 1.5 million people have fled to other countries since Russian troops invaded Ukraine, according to the head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi.

According to the organization, it is already seeing “the fastest growing refugee crisis since the Second World War”.

In view of the intensifying Ukraine war*, the number of people fleeing Ukraine every day will probably continue to grow.

The UN assumes that up to four million people want to leave the country.

So far, most people leaving Ukraine have fled to Poland.

According to the Polish border guard, around 922,400 refugees have arrived from the neighboring country since the beginning of the war.

On Saturday (March 5) alone, 129,000 people are said to have crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border.

The number of refugees could rise to over a million on Sunday.

War in Ukraine: More than a million people flee to neighboring countries

Many Ukrainians are also trying to save themselves in other neighboring countries: 230,000 people have fled to the neighboring Republic of Moldova alone.

120,000 thousand of them stayed in the country - an enormous number for the former Soviet republic, which only has around 2.6 million inhabitants.

Romania, in turn, registered around 227,500 refugees and Hungary over 163,000.

Almost 114,000 people reached Slovakia.

More and more people are fleeing from Ukraine to Germany.

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Police have so far registered 37,786 refugees.

That's almost 10,000 more people than the day before.

However, an Interior Ministry spokesman pointed out that the actual number of Ukrainian refugees could be much higher.

Ukraine refugees: over 10,000 people arrive in Berlin every day

Since no border controls have been carried out so far, the number of war refugees who have entered Germany could already be significantly higher.

The number of people fleeing the war zone in Ukraine has been recorded since the Russian attacks began on February 24.

First and foremost, the refugees arrive in Berlin.

With thousands of refugees arriving in the capital from the Ukraine every day, Berlin is already reaching its limits, according to the governing mayor, Franziska Giffey.

"We have an extremely dynamic event within a week: In the beginning there were 45 people who we accommodated, now more than 10,000 come a day," said the SPD politician.

Refugees from Ukraine: Berlin overloaded - distribution to other federal states

According to the administration, more than 11,000 people who fled the war in Ukraine arrived in Berlin on Saturday alone.

720 of them were accommodated by the crisis management team and the State Office for Refugee Affairs in Berlin.

Due to the enormous number of people arriving, buses have been taking them from Berlin Central Station to other federal states since Sunday (March 6).

This was announced by the Berlin Senate Department for Integration, Labor and Social Affairs.

13 federal states would be controlled, Bavaria and Hamburg are excluded.

"The offer is voluntary, no registration," it said.

War in Ukraine: Refugees are to be admitted without complex asylum procedures

According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), refugees from Ukraine should be admitted to Germany regardless of their nationality.

"We want to save lives.

It doesn't depend on the pass," said Faeser.

Most people fleeing Ukraine are Ukrainians.

According to the minister, people from other countries who had a permanent right of residence in Ukraine do not have to go through a complex asylum procedure either.

"For example, with young Indians who have studied in the Ukraine, we see that they want to return to their homeland as quickly as possible," says Faeser.

In addition, Faeser emphasized that there will be no upper limit for the admission of Ukrainian refugees.

All EU states would take in war refugees, especially the Eastern European EU countries.

"It's a completely different situation than we've had in Europe before." Good distribution and care for the refugees from Ukraine is now essential.

No loss of control is to be expected.

"Of course we are now taking a closer look at who is coming to Germany." At the same time, however, it is clear that Germany currently wants to help quickly and unbureaucratically.

War trauma: psychosocial centers could be overwhelmed

With the increasing number of Ukrainian war refugees, the nationwide working group of psychosocial centers for refugees and victims of torture is also demanding financial help from the federal, state and local governments.

Many of the refugees from Ukraine are traumatized by the war there and need psychological support.

However, according to manager Lukas Welz, the financing of the psychosocial centers is already precarious.

The centers are not prepared for the current additional burden.

The federal chairman of the German Association of Psychotherapists Gebhard Hentschel also calls for additional support.