Around three million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded their country, it has emerged.
Data from the UN Refugee Agency shows an extraordinary 1.8 million Ukrainians have crossed borders into Poland as of Tuesday, 15 March.
The second highest number of Ukrainians went to Romania: 453,432.
Next up in the number of Ukrainians received are Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia, which have also taken in hundreds of thousands of people.
They are followed by Russia with 142,994 and Belarus with 1,475.
UK visas
Meanwhile, as of Monday, the UK has approved 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, after the government launched the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme this week.
The scheme aims to allow UK people and volunteers to express interest in hosting Ukrainian refugees – but Nandy said the government will still require a visa application process.
She said: “These are 50-page forms that have to be completed online, asking people who have fled with nothing to find an internet cafe to upload documents. They don’t have water bills, mortgage documents to prove who they are.”
Despite the complicated process, Nandy pointed out that the Home Office has also been “incredibly slow” in issuing the visas.
“We are lagging way behind the generosity of other countries. We could simplify this process today, we could keep essential checks but drop the excessive bureaucracy.
“Why hasn’t it been done?”
Romania
Since the invasion started last month, Romania, where the average salary after tax is around £630 but prices are often comparable to those in the UK, has been offering Ukrainians home and services for free.
Romanians in a Facebook group have been offering free accommodation, transport, food, clothes and medicines to families with children and animals some Ukrainians have not left behind.
People have been sharing details of how many refugees they can shelter in their own homes across the country – from capital Bucharest in the south of Romania to Iasi in the north-east and Constanta, a city by the Black Sea.
One Romanian couple has been hosting dozens of Ukrainian refugees in their home, prompting a 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.
He said Romanians were waiting for their neighbours with “food, hot drinks, free buses, help, volunteers, arranging of rooms”.
He shared an image of a national railway poster, announcing free travel on Romanian trains.
Related: Romanian mothers leave prams for Ukrainian mums in Bucharest train station
