Post-Minsk II conflict Attacks on civilians Related An ongoing refugee crisis began in Europe in late February 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the CEO of Ukrainian Railways, which operates the majority of train services in Ukraine, estimated that within three weeks of the start of the invasion, the network had transported 2.5 million passengers.

[35] To ensure trains can travel as safely as possible, the network had to constantly adapt to situations on the ground, such as if tracks are damaged by bombs or if they are no longer under Ukrainian control.

[38] Railway companies in several European countries, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland, allowed Ukrainian refugees to travel by train for free.

"[72] In a later interview for France Inter he denounced alleged claims of racism of Ukrainian and Polish serviceman as "Russian propaganda" and part of Russia's information warfare.

Modelling estimates show that by 1 April, Ukrainian people (including refugees but also those previously living in Poland) made up between 15% and 30% of the population of each of the major Polish cities.

500 people from third-party countries arrived by train in Budapest and asked the police for help; these were mostly students or migrant workers from Asia and Africa who had been living in Ukraine.

[93] On 21 August 2024 a law came into force in Hungary, restricting support to those Ukrainian refugees who have come from one of currently 13 regions in Ukraine which are, directly affected by military action.

[101] According to Middle East Eye, this has led to social tensions, and international aid was deemed crucial to help Moldovan institutions handle the influx of refugees.

The state-owned newspaper Novosti Pridnestrovya reported on 4 April that a total of around 27,300 Ukrainian citizens had arrived in Transnistria, of whom 21,000 had applied for temporary residence permits.

[21][114] On 4 March, the Council of the EU unanimously agreed to implement the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time in its history, so that refugees fleeing from Ukraine do not have to go through the standard European Union asylum procedure.

[146] Ukrainian citizens, their close relatives and non-Ukrainians that already had refugee status in Ukraine can receive a two-year residence permit (with the possibility of extension) without having to first request asylum.

[165] A portal called "Je m'engage pour l'Ukraine" (I am committed to Ukraine) was launched with state support, aiming to coordinate help from French citizens.

[178][179] Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, allowed refugees with a Ukrainian passport or ID card to travel free of charge on long-distance trains from Poland to Germany.

[244][245] On March 31, 2022, Prime Minister Sánchez announced that 30,000 Ukrainian refugees had officially been granted the temporary protection status, but expected that number to increase to 70,000 in the next days.

[247] The Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration enabled reception, attention and relocation centres (CREADE) for Ukrainian refugees in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Barcelona, Alicante and Málaga, resolving around 40,000 applications for temporary protection over the course of the first three weeks of the conflict.

[256][257][128] On 4 March the United Kingdom announced that British nationals and Ukrainian residents of the UK would be allowed to bring in members of their extended family from Ukraine.

[258] On 7 March 2022, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that many Ukrainian refugees had been turned away by British officials in Calais and told to obtain visas at UK consulates in Paris or Brussels.

The heads of the Refugee Council, the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam made a statement warning that the system was "causing great distress to already traumatised Ukrainians".

[282][281] On 17 March 2022, the Government launched the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET),[283] which gives Ukrainians and their families a visa to come to Canada temporarily, and allows them to work and study there for up to three years.

[321] On 21 December 2022, President Joe Biden announced during his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the U.S. had accepted roughly 221,000 Ukrainian refugees via earlier Title 42 encounters, Uniting for Ukraine and other organisations.

[330][331][332] A Ukrainian refugee who stayed to help at a border location told reporters of calling the police on three men holding transportation signs, who were later arrested for looking for women for the sex trade.

[334] La Strada worked on a case where Ukrainian girls were offered tickets to Mexico, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates without ever meeting the men who invited them.

In recent weeks, online searches for Ukrainian women and keywords like escorts, porn or sex have shot up dramatically in European countries, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

[188] UNICEF and UNHCR raised concerns about minors who were traveling unaccompanied, and urged neighbouring countries to identify and register the children before sending them to relocation services.

[384][385] On 2 March, the German embassy[386] as well as the EU delegation in Kenya called for verification of the postings on Kenyan social media, cautioning that unsubstantiated claims had been spread.

[387][388] According to German TV station Tagesschau, such allegations are grave because they are in line with the narrative of Vladimir Putin, who has justified his attack on Ukraine with, the need to free the country from "Nazis".

[389] On Polish social media, the amount of both pro-Russian and racist content saw an increase following the invasion, and fake news about supposed crimes which were committed by, or against refugees were partially spread by pro-Kremlin accounts.

[399] Professor Serena Parekh suggested that besides racism there are other factors explaining the different treatment in earlier crises:[400] including that current Ukrainian refugees are almost entirely women, children and elderly people.

[400] The welcoming approach witnessed in Central and Eastern Europe has been further explained by its geographical and language proximity to Ukraine, large Ukrainian diasporas, shared history and traumatizing experiences of Soviet aggression and occupation.