The number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine has exceeded four million, the United Nations said Wednesday, “surpassing the refugee count the organization predicted for the entire war in just under five weeks,” the Wall Street Journal reported on March 30.

“That number exceeds the worst-case predictions made at the start of the war,” wrote Bassam Hatoum and Jamey Keaten of the Associated Press.

Half of the refugees from Ukraine are children, according to UNHCR and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, they reported.

“The exodus, staggering in its scale and speed, has turned into the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II,” noted Ellen Francis of the Washington Post.

President Biden on March 26 met with Ukrainian refugees “who have fled to Poland in recent weeks, getting a firsthand look at the humanitarian crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the Hill reported.

Biden “held hands with parents and gave them hugs during the stop at a soccer stadium where refugees go to obtain a Polish identification number that gives them access to social services such as health care and schools,” the Associated Press noted.

Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times

“I’ve been to an awful lot of places like this with a lot of refugee camps in my life. And what I — what I never — I’m always surprised by is the depth and strength of the human spirit. I mean it sincerely. And it’s incredible. It’s incredible,” the President said after meeting with the refugees.

The White House on March 24 said that it would welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others “fleeing Russia’s aggression through the full range of legal pathways, including the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.”

The White House said in a fact sheet that in particular, “we are working to expand and develop new programs with a focus on welcoming Ukrainians who have family members in the United States. The United States and the European Union are also coordinating closely to ensure that these efforts, and other forms of humanitarian admission or transfers, are complementary and provide much-needed support to Ukraine’s neighbors.”

“While most displaced Ukrainians want to stay in Europe, the U.S. government expects to use its refugee admission program as well as the parole system and immigrant and non-immigrant visas to bring in Ukrainians,” NPR reported, citing a senior Biden Administration official.

Along with accepting the up to 100,000 refugees, the White House also said that Thursday that it would donate $1 billion to help European countries handle a surge of migrants fleeing Russia’s invasion, the New York Times reported.

“The announcement comes as countries facing an exodus of some three million refugees have sought assistance from the United States, which has been engaged in its own struggle to absorb thousands of refugees from the war in Afghanistan,: wrote New York Times reporters Miriam Jordan and Michael Shear.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on March 6. Over the last 10 days, 1.5 million people have fled the conflict.

The UNHCR has set up a webpage for donations to provide assistance to the refugees. Click here for additional details.