The number of people arriving from Ukraine to Poland to flee the Russian invasion exceeded one million as of 7:00 p.m. GMT on Sunday, Polish border guards said.
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“It’s a million human tragedies, a million people driven from their homes by war” since February 24, according to a statement on Twitter. “A million people who have heard the border guards tell them, once they cross the border, ‘you are safe'”.
The UN had announced earlier in the day that the total number of people who had left Ukraine to seek refuge in neighboring countries had exceeded 1.5 million.
In Poland, their arrival provoked a great surge of solidarity.
Authorities facilitated border formalities and organized reception centers while thousands of private volunteers provided meals, transport and accommodation in their homes across the country.
Everywhere, in town halls, churches, schools or sports centers, people brought a lot of food, hygiene products, clothes and blankets.
At railway stations in major cities, for example in Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw, dozens of volunteers waited for refugees as they got off the train to inform them of accommodation options and other forms of assistance.
Many schools have already opened their doors to Ukrainian children, women and children constituting the vast majority of refugees, men being likely to be mobilized in Ukraine.