Four million Ukraine refugees could be on the move across Europe in the coming days, western official have predicted.
One official has described the refugee situation in Ukraine as “unprecedented”, with concerns the total number of people fleeing could double within days.
One official said: “The UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) briefed us and others who other leading donors just last night.
“As of then, their number of refugees had topped two million – they are at 2.2 million as of last night – but they are worried we could see four million over the next few days.’
“These are unprecedented movements of people in Europe, or indeed probably anywhere else in the world.”
The official added: “I would like to stress the sheer scale of this, which is something that we haven’t seen, certainly since the end of the Second World War, and that is a real challenge to us all.”
The forecast came as the UK government continued to come under pressure to ease the visa requirements for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
Earlier Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled plans to make it easier for Ukrainian refugees to come to the UK following fierce criticism of how she has handled the issue.
The Home Secretary said that, from Tuesday, those fleeing war in their homeland with passports will no longer need to go to visa centres and can apply online.
But Labour’s Keir Starmer has said the Government’s “slow” response to imposing sanctions on oligarchs amid the Ukraine invasion bears “echoes of Afghanistan”.
Visiting a UK army base in Estonia, Starmer said: “The Home Office approach to visas has been a complete shambles that is diminishing our reputation across the world.
“We’ve got a Home Office where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing and they need to restore their reputation, get on with the job, and find a way of having a safe route to sanctuary for people who are desperately fleeing for their lives.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was writing to the Prime Minister again on Thursday calling for the rules to be eased and implored other party leaders to sign on to the correspondence.
Sturgeon said. “I repeat my appeal to the Prime Minister to emulate the example of the Republic of Ireland, and countries across the European Union, to waive visa requirements, to put sanctuary first and paperwork second.”
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