A total of around 1.067 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the Russian invasion on 24 February, with 142,300 arriving on Sunday alone, the Polish Border Guard has said.
The force said Monday was also shaping up to be another day of massive arrivals:
Traffic on the Polish-Ukrainian border is growing, today at 07.00, 42,000 people arrived in Poland from Ukraine.
Vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians have been fleeing cities under bombardment, including the besieged coastal city of Mariupol.
The UN estimates that more than 1.5 million refugees have crossed into neighbouring countries since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. On Sunday, the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, warned after visiting the Moldovan border that the situation would only get worse.
“This will be a more complex situation,” he said, after having tweeted on Sunday: “More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days.”
Officials said many of the refugees who had arrived in other countries had friends and places to go to, but Grandi said the growing tide of refugees would put pressure on governments to absorb them.
“These governments have done very well in their initial response. They were well prepared. But if the numbers continue to grow it will be a problem.”
