Fleeing Ukraine

Nearly 900,000 people have fled Ukraine for safety. On today’s show, the refugees of the war in Ukraine. 

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Hundreds of thousands of refugees have left Ukraine for neighboring countries, and many are now waiting in holding centers across the region. Many are women and children; Ukrainian authorities have told men ages 18 to 60 to stay in the country to fight the invasion.

Almost 900,000 people have fled Ukraine and are looking to places like Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary for safety. Traffic data shows severe backups at nearly every border crossing over the weekend, particularly at crossings into Poland. Officials warn that the flow of refugees is likely to escalate into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. 

Today on the show, the refugees fleeing Ukraine to escape the war. 

Katya Merezhinsky is one of those people. She was in Lviv when the war began, and she recounts her harrowing journey out of Ukraine.  

Foreign correspondent and Berlin bureau chief Loveday Morris reports on the ground from the Ukraine-Poland border, where busloads of refugees are arriving in Poland. She says, “Hordes of people are [arriving] with real tales of horror.” 

Video journalist Jon Gerberg is also on the Ukraine-Poland border and reports on the discrimination some refugees of color have faced as they’ve tried to cross it.

“What starts on paper as a policy of national priority in the end effectively translates into a two-class process,” Gerberg says.

Follow our coverage on the war in Ukraine here.