There are now more than half a million refugees from Ukraine in neighboring countries, the United Nations said Monday, as people desperately head west toward central Europe after the Russian invasion last week.
Here is a quick overview of the situation on Ukraine’s borders:
Poland: More than 100,000 people crossed from Ukraine into Poland on Monday, according to Polish border guards, the highest number Ukraine’s neighbors in the European Union have received since the invasion began.
Since February 24, border authorities have allowed at least 377,400 people to enter at their border crossings with Ukraine, according to Tuesday’s tweet.
Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said the longest line is at the Medica crossing.
On the Ukrainian side of that border, a 20-kilometre (12 mi) line of vehicles runs through the neighboring villages. Residents told CNN that the number of people moving to the border has decreased in the past day.
They said the first few days of the evacuations were chaotic, with many people walking great distances to the border in cold conditions. But now many volunteers from local villages have set up temporary shelter and provide food.
The CNN team at the border spoke to several non-Ukrainians who said officials were still giving preferential treatment to Ukrainians crossing the border.
CNN also interviewed Ukrainian citizens who were waiting in line in their cars, but decided to abandon their cars and walk to the border instead, because they thought it would be faster.
Many men take their families to the border, realizing that they will likely be rejected and will not be able to leave. Ukraine has banned men of military service age from leaving the country as it seeks to bolster its armed forces.
Slovakia: Waiting times on Ukraine’s border with Slovakia stretch to 35 hours in Obla, heading northeast from Slovakia, and 12 hours in Vysne Nemecke, heading southeast. Another crossing in Vilk Slims is less crowded.
The Slovak border police reported that a total of 54,304 people entered the country on Tuesday morning.
According to the agency spokesperson, since the beginning of the conflict, the guards have not turned anyone around, which means that no such incidents occurred on the Ukrainian side. They said nearly 15,000 people crossed three crossing points from Sunday morning to Monday morning, nearly a third of whom were non-Ukrainians.
Romania: A total of 89,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived across the Romanian border since the Russian invasion, and 50,000 of them have since moved out to other countries, according to official border records.
Congestion was seen at the border with Hungary, But the police confirmed to CNN that the crossings are less crowded today and people clear the crossings faster.
