March 5, 2022 5:59 AM ET
March 5, 2022 at 5:59 am Ukrainian refugees in Palanka, Modova, after fleeing Ukraine on Tuesday. Credit … Letitia Vancon for The New York Times
Kishinev, Moldova. Russia’s war in Ukraine has triggered the fastest flow of refugees in Europe since the end of World War II, the head of the United Nations refugee agency said on Saturday.
In the 10 days since the beginning of the war, at least 1.2 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries. This displacement, mostly of women and children, is happening at a faster pace than the displacement of people at the height of the Balkan wars in the 1990s, and much faster than during the 1956 Hungarian refugee crisis, said Filippo Grandi, a United Nations spokesman. High Commissioner for Refugees.
“This is the fastest-growing refugee crisis – let’s call it a refugee crisis, please, this is a refugee crisis – since World War II,” Mr Grandi said in an interview.
“Millions of people moved to the Balkans, but over a very long period of time,” added Mr. Grandi. “It went on for six or seven years.”
Mr. Grandi had just returned from a trip to the Ukraine-Moldova border and said he was particularly struck by the suddenness with which refugees crossing that border were uprooted from normal, comfortable lives in what until recently was a quiet, functional . cities.
“It’s an avalanche of people with cars and pets,” Mr Grandi said. “It’s entire cities being emptied and crossing the border. It is very specific, very peculiar. He will come with his own needs and characteristics.”
Poland has taken in the most Ukrainians, but Mr Grandi was particularly concerned about Moldova, which has taken in more refugees per capita than any of Ukraine’s other neighbors. Since February 24, more than 200,000 people from Ukraine have entered Moldova, which has an official population of 2.6 million and is one of the poorest countries in Europe.
Unlike its western neighbors, Moldova is not a member of the European Union and therefore lacks significant institutional support from the bloc.
Mr. Grandi said that Moldova and its neighbors would need major help to attract newcomers to their education, health and welfare systems, which would inevitably strain public consensus in those countries.
But he said he was encouraged by the speed with which European countries have responded to the crisis, which he hoped signifies a paradigm shift in how European governments treat refugees.
On Thursday, the 27 EU members unanimously agreed to automatically grant Ukrainian refugees the right to live and work within the bloc for up to three years.
It was a collective act of welcome without precedent during the 2015 refugee crisis, when more than a million refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, sought safety in Europe.
“I hope this is a good lesson that Europe will take to reach out to other people who come seeking asylum on the continent,” Mr Grandi said.
If there was any positive side to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, it is that “Europe has now realized that anyone can become a refugee,” Mr. Grandi said. “Anyone can become a country that has been overwhelmed by a wave of refugees.”
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