REFUGEES

The number of Ukrainian nationals who crossed the border into Romania went up 30% on Wednesday compared to the previous day, reads a news release issued by the Romanian Border Police. As many as 8,635 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania in 24 hours, coming from Ukraine or the R. of Moldova. Since the start of the crisis over 2 months ago, over 800,000 Ukrainians have come into Romania. Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced in a conference in Geneva that over 8 million Ukrainian may leave their country. According to the UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo, the Agency and its partners intend to raise USD 1.85 billion to support an estimated 8.3 million refugees in Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, as well as in other countries in the region, including Belarus, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.