There are now more than half a million refugees from Ukraine in neighboring countries, the UN said Monday, with people desperately heading west towards central Europe after last week’s Russian invasion.
Here is a snapshot of the situation at Ukraine’s borders:
Poland: More than 100,000 people crossed into Poland from Ukraine on Monday, according to the Polish Border Guard, the highest number Ukraine’s neighbors have received since the invasion began.
Since February 24, border authorities have allowed the entry of at least 377,400 people at the border crossings with Ukraine, according to a tweet on Tuesday.
The longest line is at the Medyka border crossing, said border guard spokesman Anna Michalska.
On the Ukrainian side of that border, a 20-kilometer line of vehicles stretches through nearby villages. Residents told DailyExpertNews that the number of people moving to the border has declined in the past day.
The first few days of the evacuations were chaotic, with many people walking long distances to the border in cold conditions, they said. But now many volunteers from local villages have set up temporary shelters and offer food.
A DailyExpertNews team at the border has spoken to many non-Ukrainian citizens who say officials still give preferential treatment to Ukrainians crossing the border.
DailyExpertNews has also met Ukrainian nationals waiting in line in their cars but decided to abandon their vehicles and walk to the border instead, thinking it would be faster.
Many men escort their families to the border knowing that they will likely be rejected and unable to leave. Ukraine has banned military-age men from leaving the country because it wants to strengthen its armed forces.
Slovakia: Waiting times at the Ukrainian border with Slovakia are up to 35 hours in Ubla, in the northeast of Slovakia, and 12 hours in Vysne Nemecke, in the southeast. Another crossing in Velke Slemence is less congestion.
A total of 54,304 people had entered the country on Tuesday morning, according to the Slovakian border police.
According to the agency’s spokesman, security guards have not returned a single person since the start of the conflict, meaning such incidents have taken place on the Ukrainian side. About 15,000 people crossed three crossings from Sunday morning to Monday morning, about a third of whom were non-Ukrainian, they said.
Romania: A total of 89,000 Ukrainian citizens have crossed the Romanian border since the Russian invasion, and 50,000 have subsequently left for other countries, according to official border data.
Congestion has been detected at the border with Hungary, but police confirmed to DailyExpertNews that the crosswalks are less crowded today and people are clearing the crosswalks faster.