More than 700,000 Ukrainian fleeing war have entered Romania since Russia launched its invasion, Romania’s interior minister, Lucian Bode said.
Most of those have traveled on to other places, but 80,000 have chosen to stay in Romania which shares a direct border with Ukraine.
In recent days, the number has tailed off, authorities said Monday. Less than 8,000 crossed into Romania on Sunday, 21% fewer than the previous day.
Romania has requested 300 million lei (60.6 million euro) funding from the European Union to cover costs generated by the crisis, Mr Bode told B1 TV late Sunday.
Romania’s interior ministry is committing 25,000 personnel every day to handle the evacuee crisis, including 5,300 officials along the 615-kilometer border.
Most of the refugees are women, children and the elderly as men aged 18-60 are have to
Some 36,000_ just under half the Ukrainians who have stayed in Romania_ are children he said.
Romania has won widespread praise for its handling of the humanitarian crisis.
On Friday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace traveled to a Black Sea military base as Britain took command of NATO’s air policing mission in Romania.
„I pay tribute to Romania’s generosity providing shelter for the tens of thousands of innocent civilians fleeing this horrific conflict,” he said.
Romania has granted 5,000 temporary residence permits and 4,300 have applied for asylum.
The remaining 70,000 are allowed to stay for 90 days. The minister stressed that Romania would not send any Ukrainians back to their country.
„We also want this conflict to end (and then) they will be able to return to their country,” he added.
Romania has provided 50,000 places for Ukrainian refugees who are have received accommodation from local authorities, non-governmental organizations and private companies.
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