Kuba Stezycki & Jiri Skacel

MEDYKA /UBLA, Slovakia (Reuters – On Monday, Poland tried to facilitate passage into the European Union for approximately quarter of a billion Ukrainians who were fleeing from the Russian invasion.

Men who are not yet of compulsory age could not leave Ukraine. This led to a large number of women and children arriving at border crossings in Slovakia, Hungary, Eastern Poland and Hungary.

There were many wait times required to cross border borders. They ranged from several hours for small crossings to several days at more busy crossings like Medyka in Poland, where the lines stretched back hundreds of kilometers.

Michal Dworczyk the chief of staff to Polish Prime Minister Michal Dworczyk said “The queues were huge.”

He stated that “if we count the working border points, it is certain there are over a quarter-of-a million people at those borders.”

U.S. Embassy Kyiv posted that Ukrainian border guards waived exit screening procedures for children and women to shorten wait times due to snowfall.

Since fighting began last week, more than 300,000. Officials are now preparing for an increasing number of people to enter the European Union.

According to EU officials, the exodus that erupted after the invasion could result in 7 million refugees. Ukrainians who fled the war are being offered the chance to live and work within the European Union for up three years.

UNCLOG BOTTLENECKS

Officials searched for solutions to bottlenecks. Ukrainians living within the European Union anxiously waited at border to welcome evacuees.

Veronika Sahlikovakufelt from Germany, who traveled to Slovakia in order meet her aunts and grandmother at Ubla crossing.

Poland’s Ukrainian community, which is approximately 1 million strong, has been a welcoming country for many people who have fled Ukraine.

Polish authorities claimed that more than 281 000 people have crossed into Poland from February 24, including nearly 100,000 who arrived on Sunday, and another 281,000 arriving Monday.

Officials at Medyka, Poland’s busiest border crossing loaded newly arrived people into buses and ferried them to Przemysl reception centre, where they were greeted by relatives, friends, and volunteers.

The reception center was cold and snowy so new visitors huddled around the fires, wrapped in blankets.

According to one Ukrainian woman, “I took the train from Kyiv and Lviv to go to an oil where the taxi dropped me.” I walked 50 kms of the remaining distance.

Wojciech Bakun (mayor of Przemysl) has asked for donations to be stopped as the city warehouses have been overloaded and people are advised not to drive to collect people. There are no parking spots.

Authorities set up temporary reception centers in tents across central Europe to provide medical assistance and asylum paperwork processing. Volunteers drove thousands of miles with food, blankets, clothes and other donations, providing shelter and transport.

According to officials, 70% of the 70,803 Ukrainians who arrived in Romania in February 24 were volunteers trying to give raincoats during snowy conditions. Officials say that more than half have gone onwards, with over half heading for countries other than Ukraine.