Seeking Sanctuary

More than 4 million Ukrainians are expected to flee their country in coming months, ushering in "Europe's largest refugee crisis this century”

- By Diane Harris, Fatma Khaled, Khaleda Rahman. Photograph by Ethan Swope

They come by bus, train, car and foot, 100,000 to 200,000 or more a day, enduring often freezing temperatures and waits of up to 60 hours to cross the border. Ukrainians fleeing the chaos and carnage of the Russian invasion are flooding into neighboring Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Slovakia, some looking to stay and others on their way to more distant destinations, in numbers not seen in decades. By the end of the first week of the war, more than 1 million residents of Ukraine had left their homes looking for safe haven outside its borders, and the United Nations estimates their numbers will likely top 4 million in coming months.

At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century,” says U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Shabia Mantoo.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi concurs, telling a recent emergency session of the U.N. Security Council: “I have worked in refugee crises for almost 40 years and I have rarely seen such an incredibly fast-rising exodus of people—the largest, surely, within Europe, since the Balkan wars.

For now at least, the refugees have mostly been warmly welcomed by the countries they've entered, both by the government ordinary citizens, with what Grandi calls extraordinary acts of humanity and kindness.” The European Union has stated that its member nations are open and eager to host Ukrainians looking to escape the violence at home, and it is poised to invoke, for the first time in its history, a directive that will allow the refugees to stay and work in EU countries for up to three years.