Over 21,500 Airbnb hosts have offered their homes to Ukrainian refugees as more than three million people have now fled because of Russia’s invasion.
The vacation rental company said around 14,000 European hosts and 4,000 US ones offered to receive Ukrainians through its charitable arm, the Evening Standard has reported.
The firm has also raised around $37 million (£28 million) to support the humanitarian crisis, donations which came from the company itself but also from founders, employees and individual donors.
It comes after, at the end of last month, Airbnb said it would host up to 100,000 Ukrainian asylum seekers for free on a temporary basis.
Since the invasion started, people around the world have been booking Airbnbs in Ukraine with no intention to visit, as a way of donating money to Ukrainian hosts.
Last August, Airbnb opened the doors of its properties to 20,000 Afghan refugees across the globe and sought assistance from hosts to house as many people fleeing as possible.
Meanwhile, over 100,000 people in the UK have offered their homes to Ukrainian refugees since a new scheme launched on Monday, Boris Johnson has announced.
The prime minister said it was “fantastic” and thanked “everyone across the country who has stepped up to offer their help so far”.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme will offer hosts £350 tax-free every month.
But as of Monday, the UK had approved only 4,000 visas for Ukrainians who applied and went through the Home Office process.
Lisa Nandy has hit out at the government, saying there is a “lack of urgency” both in getting Ukrainian refugees to the UK, and in ensuring they receive support after they arrive.
The shadow secretary for housing and communities also said “a press release” is not a plan, and accused the government of still requiring paperwork from Ukrainian refugees for the new scheme.
It comes as Romania, which neighbours Ukraine has received almost half a million people since the invasion started at the end of February – the second highest number of refugees after Poland, with almost two million people received.
Romanians have been offering free accommodation, transport, food, clothes and medicines to families with children and animals some Ukrainians have not left behind.
One Romanian couple has been hosting dozens of Ukrainian refugees in their home, prompting a CNN journalist to say they restored his “faith in humans”.
Last week, a British journalist has praised Romania’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis after travelling to both countries, and shared an image of a national railway poster, announcing free travel on Romanian trains.
Meanwhile, Romanian mothers have left prams for Ukrainian mums in Bucharest’s North Railway Station.
Related: What my Auntie, who fled the Russians in 1944, taught me of war and refugees
