More than 360,000 Ukrainians flee to borders amid escalating situation

Volunteers in Madrid pack essential goods as part of a collection campaign for Ukrainians on Saturday. (OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

MEDYKA, Poland－Dragging suitcases and carrying children, tens of thousands of Ukrainians rushed to borders on Saturday as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate.

At least 368,000 people have fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighboring countries, said the United Nations' refugee agency on Sunday.

Some walked many kilometers through the night, while others fled by train, car, or bus, forming lines kilometers long at border crossings. They were greeted by waiting relatives and friends, or headed on their own to reception centers organized by neighboring governments.

It really hurt, I want to go home.

Natalia Murinik, a 14-year-old girl

"The numbers and the situation are changing minute by minute," said Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The update from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Sunday more than doubles its estimate a day ago, when it said at least 150,000 have fled Ukraine.

Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the numbers may go up. "It's very fluid and changing by the hour," she said.

The agency expects up to 4 million Ukrainians could flee if the situation deteriorates further.

Those arriving were mostly women, children and the elderly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky banned men aged from 18 to 60 from leaving.

Volunteers even came from elsewhere in Europe to pick up refugees. Among them, a German couple from Hamburg who held up a sign at the Polish border town of Medyka saying they could take three people home with them.

"We felt we needed to do something," said Tanja Schwarz, 51.

Despite the goodwill, the crush of people became a very real ordeal.

Jeremy Myers, who is from England, was on vacation in Ukraine with his Ukrainian girlfriend when the war started.

Real ordeal

"We saw several people get injured. There were no toilets, there was no medical assistance," he said. "You had to stand where you were because if you didn't, you lost your place in line."

One family from Chernivtsi in western Ukraine waited 20 hours before being able to cross the border into Siret in northern Romania. Natalia Murinik, 14, cried as she described saying goodbye to grandparents who could not leave the country. "It really hurt, I want to go home," she said.

A woman from Lviv named Lena described seeing toys and heavy bags along the way that people had abandoned. She was bringing her four children to safety in Poland and planned to return to join her husband.

Among those arriving at that point were a Ukrainian-British family with their dogs. "We can't leave our dogs," said Vlasta Terasova, arriving from Uzhhorod.

The border post in Siret was crowded with Ukrainians on Saturday, and humanitarian groups set up tents a few miles in and offered food and drink to those arriving.

Despite the welcome, Murinik's family did not know where they were going next. "We don't have a clue. We're waiting for our friends, and then we'll think," she said.

On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres promised to provide more humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians.

"The secretary-general conveyed to the president the determination of the United Nations to enhance humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine," according to a readout about the secretary-general's call with Zelensky.

The UN chief informed Zelensky that the world body "would launch on Tuesday an appeal to fund UN's humanitarian operations in Ukraine".

In an email, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, told reporters that because of the escalating situation in Ukraine, Guterres will not travel to Geneva as planned. Instead, "he will send a video message to Monday's meeting of the Human Rights Council", he added.