UN: the number of refugees from Ukraine has reached 836,000 people

On the seventh day of the war against Ukraine, Russian troops continue to strike at settlements in many regions of the neighboring country and do not stop trying to capture them. The Ukrainian army and territorial defense detachments put up stubborn resistance, causing significant damage to the aggressor. Western countries and international organizations are tightening sanctions against Russia. DW is following developments on Wednesday, March 2nd (Moscow time).

German Chancellor Olaf  Scholz rules out NATO military intervention in the war between Russia and Ukraine. “In this situation, it would be wrong,” the head of the German government said after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem. According to Scholz, this is a very dangerous situation, since one of the nuclear powers is involved in the conflict. The West “has taken the right position between consistency and necessary caution,” the chancellor said.

For his part, Naftali Bennet stressed that Israel is making efforts to find a “sensible, appropriate” response to the development of the situation in Ukraine. Both Germany and Israel have expressed their intention to continue supporting Kyiv.

Ukrainian athletes arrived at the Paralympic Games in Beijing

The organizers of the Paralympic Games in Beijing, apparently, have increased security measures for the Ukrainian team. After the athletes arrived at the airport in the Chinese capital, buses carrying 20 athletes and nine support staff proceeded to the Paralympic villages, accompanied by an escort of several police cars, SID reported.

Delegations also on the plane, including those from Hungary, Croatia, and Greece, were allowed to proceed to the Paralympic Village without a police escort. The same was true for the German team. Games in the Chinese capital will open on March 4.

Ukrainian border guards stopped at the border more than 60 men – citizens of Ukraine. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced this on Wednesday in its Facebook account. The men tried to illegally cross the border with the Republic of Moldova across the Dniester River. They were immediately transferred to the military commissariat. Since the imposition of martial law following Russia’s attack on a neighboring state, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving the country.

The number of civilians who fled to neighboring countries from Ukraine since the beginning of the war unleashed on its territory by Russia has again increased significantly. According to figures released on Wednesday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the moment it is 836,000 people. A day earlier, the UNHCR registered 677,000 Ukrainian refugees.

More than half of the Ukrainians who left their homeland – 450,000 people – found refuge in Poland. In second place in terms of the number of refugees from Ukraine who arrived there is Hungary (about 116,000 people). It is followed by Slovakia (67,000), Moldova (65,000) and Romania (38,000). 52,000 Ukrainian refugees were accepted by other European states. Approximately 5 percent of citizens who left Ukraine (42,900 people) fled to Russia. In addition to them, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia took in 96,000 refugees from the separatist “LPR” and “DPR”. 350 Ukrainians found refuge in Belarus.

The EU banned the export of euro banknotes to Russia

The European Union has banned the export of euro banknotes to Russia as part of another sanctions package. Exceptions – personal use by individuals arriving in Russia, as well as diplomatic missions and international organizations with legal immunity, follow from the text of an official publication in the EU journal.

Japan is ready to accept refugees from Ukraine. This was announced on March 2 by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. According to Kishida, he announced this intention to Japan during a telephone conversation with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

He told German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier the same over the phone, indicating that Tokyo would work closely with Berlin to support Ukraine, Kishida added.

The European Union suspended the broadcasting of Russian state media RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik. The corresponding decision was made by the EU Council on Wednesday, March 2. It entered into force on the same day. The ban on broadcasting will be in effect “until the aggression against Ukraine is stopped and until the Russian Federation and related publications stop spreading disinformation and manipulating information directed against the EU and its member states,” the press service of the Council of the European Union specified.