Volunteers organize boxes of humanitarian aid in a pavilion on March 5, 2022, near the Polish border in western Ukraine. Every day, about fifteen tons of aid arrive here and are then distributed throughout the country. The Ukrainian army is for the moment resisting Russia's heavy siege of its capital, Kiev, where fighting is intensifying. The United Nations estimates that by Sunday, March 6, the number of Ukrainian refugees could reach 1.5 million. The number of civilians killed in the conflict is close to 3,000 and almost 4,000 wounded according to Ukrainian government sources. After Visa and Mastercard joined the list of companies that are closing their subsidiaries in Russia, Putin said that the sanctions imposed by the West and his companies are "a declaration of war". In addition, the Russian president signed a decree ordering the Council of Ministers to draw up a list of countries that have carried out "unfriendly actions." Photo by Lorena Sopêna / Europa Press/Abaca/Sipa USA
Humanitarian aid near Polish border in western Ukraine
GENEVA — The United Nations’ refugee agency says the number of people who have fled the war in Ukraine has increased to more than 1.7 million.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Monday put the number of people who have arrived in other countries since the Russian invasion started on Feb. 24 at some 1.735 million. That’s up from more than 1.53 million on Sunday.
Nearly three-fifths of the total – nearly 1.03 million — arrived in Poland, according to the agency. Over 180,000 went to Hungary and 128,000 to Slovakia.
In Montpellier, France, EU foreign affairs policy chief Josep Borrell called on mobilizing “all the resources” of the bloc of 27 nations to help countries welcoming refugees from Ukraine, including neighboring Poland and Romania. Borrell spoke ahead of a meeting of development ministers of the EU.
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