The number of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion to Poland is expected to top 1 million on Sunday.
“Forecasts indicate that today the number of people who entered Poland from Ukraine from February 24 will exceed 1 million,” Polish Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said, according to Reuters. Feb. 24 marked the first day of Russia’s invasion.
Polish border guards have already cleared more than 922,000 Ukrainian refugees, the news service noted, adding that authorities cleared as many as 129,000 people crossing the border on Sunday, which was the largest single-day number since the invasion started.
Michalska said check-ins are “as simplified as possible.”
“The point is to confirm the identity of persons, verify documents, check the databases if they are not wanted persons. It takes a few minutes,” she added, according to Reuters.
Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski last month said his country was preparing for “various scenarios” in anticipation of the potential flow of refugees if Russia were to invade Ukraine.
The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Sunday said more than 1.5 million refugees have fled from Ukraine to nearby countries, noting that the wave of movement is the “fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.”
