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Thousands more refugees entered Eastern Europe on Thursday, with many expecting that ongoing peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv will bring the war to an end soon, though more people were expected to escape in the coming days.
As the battle in Ukraine reached its fourth week, the United Nations said on Thursday that 3.2 million people had fled the country, making it Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War Two.
While the number of people arriving in the frontline countries – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova – has dropped in recent days, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban predicted a “greater wave” next week.
“The battle is not subsiding, but spreading; and as it expands, there is a risk that more individuals may arrive in Hungary next week, presenting us with a big problem,” he warned in a video released late Wednesday on his Facebook page.
“They’re leaving not just war-torn areas, but real battlegrounds as well.”
Alla Klochko of Mirnohrod, Donetsk, was one of them. Mirnohrod is a territory in eastern Ukraine where separatists have declared an independent republic, although it is disputed by Kyiv and is the site of violent combat between Ukraine and Russia.
The 31-year-old hoped to stay near Warsaw, find job, and enrol her eight-year-old daughter Alisa in a Polish school, as she enjoys playing the piano.
“We have always been a part of Ukraine, and we hope that this will continue,” she said from Przemysl train station, which serves as a transit centre near the Ukrainian border. “We’re Ukrainians who speak Russian.”
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To relieve the pressure on Ukraine’s neighbours, the majority of European countries have offered to take in refugees in recent weeks. As of Thursday, German police had logged 187,428 refugees, the majority of them were women and children, according to the interior ministry, while Spain had logged around 4,500.
Officials in Ukraine believe Russia is running out of troops to continue fighting and will soon accept its failure to destabilise the Ukrainian government. Moscow has stated that it is close to reaching an agreement on a formula that would keep Ukraine neutral, which has long been a desire of its.
“I’m hoping this will be over soon. Everyone insists that it must… I’m not sure, “Ekaterina Herman, a 27-year-old mother of a two-year-old daughter, landed in Poland late on Wednesday.
Volunteers and children played tug-of-war, drew tattoos, and did paintings in a supermarket-turned-shelter in Rzeszow, south-eastern Poland, with the Beverly Hills Cop movie music booming on the speakers.
Women with newborns, toddlers, and older children continued to arrive in Romania at the Siret border crossing with Ukraine, where Romanian firefighters and volunteers welcomed them and carried their bags to buses bringing them onwards.
The UN’s relief plans are based on four million refugees, but the number is expected to climb. Five million people are expected to come in Europe, according to the European Union.
According to government and UN estimates, more over 270,000 people have fled to Hungary, 220,000 to Slovakia, and 467,000 to Romania since the invasion began on February 24, with the majority of refugees, 1.85 million, in Poland.
