Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent millions of Ukrainians scattering across Europe and beyond as families flee their homes to escape the Russian bombardment.
More than 4 million Ukrainians had left the country as of this week, according to the United Nations — surpassing some of the most pessimistic predictions experts made at the start of the conflict.
The majority have fled to neighboring Poland, where more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees have poured over the border since late February.
CHRISTIAN CHARITIES BRACE FOR WAVE OF UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
Polish volunteers have lined up to help the massive crowds of refugees arriving every day from across Ukraine. The country, which was reportedly 101st among other nations in terms of the number of refugees inside its borders last year, now has the second-highest number of refugees of any country in the world.
The Polish government has authorized Ukrainian refugees to stay in the country for up to 180 days and receive work permissions, benefits, and healthcare.
Romania has been the next most popular destination for Ukrainians fleeing the war, with more than 620,000 arriving in the country as of Thursday.
Just 11,411 refugees, from all countries combined, were admitted into the United States in fiscal year 2021. President Joe Biden has fought twice to raise limits on how many can enter the country each year.
Biden has said the U.S. will welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees as the crisis drags on.
The vast majority have stayed relatively close to home, however.
After Romania, Moldova is the third-largest recipient of Ukrainian refugees. The small Eastern European country has taken in more than 390,000 refugees from the war — a number that represents roughly 15% of its existing population of 2.6 million.
While causing the violence that has driven so many Ukrainians from their homes, Russia has also played a role in taking in refugees.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to Russia amid the violence.
The Russian government has encouraged Ukrainians to flee to Russia or Belarus, even creating evacuation routes where it says refugees can travel safely out of the country and into Kremlin-friendly territory.
Many people in Ukraine speak Russian — a dynamic Russian state media have exploited to paint its campaign in Ukraine as a legitimate operation. A survey last year by the Ilo Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation found that roughly 1 in 3 Ukrainians speak Russian at home.
More than 350,000 Ukrainians have fled to Russia since the start of the invasion, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Far fewer have headed to neighboring Belarus, which had taken in just over 12,000 Ukrainian refugees as of Thursday.
Hungary and Slovakia have also taken in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees each.
And Ukrainians are spreading out across Europe in smaller numbers as well.
Greece, for example, has set up welcome centers along its border where refugees can receive provisions such as cellphone cards and hot meals as they arrive.
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France, Germany, and other Western European countries are accepting thousands of Ukrainian refugees and working quickly to set up systems to handle the influx with no end in sight to the war.
Some displaced Ukrainians are already considering returning home, however.
Hundreds of Ukrainians have reportedly gone back to their hometowns after initially fleeing — finding it difficult, in some cases, to secure jobs, housing, and security in countries buckling under the pressure of handling so many new arrivals.
