US to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees amid Russian onslaught

The Biden administration says it would use "the full range of legal pathways," including the refugee resettlement program, for Ukrainians seeking to come to the United States.

Eastern European countries, most notably Poland, have received hundreds of thousands of people escaping the Russian shelling of cities and towns across Ukraine.
AFP

Eastern European countries, most notably Poland, have received hundreds of thousands of people escaping the Russian shelling of cities and towns across Ukraine.

The United States has plans to accept up to 100,000 people fleeing Ukraine, after a month of Russian attacks touched off Europe's fastest-moving refugee crisis since the end of World War Two.

US President Joe Biden's administration said in a statement on Thursday it would use "the full range of legal pathways," including the refugee resettlement programme, for Ukrainians seeking to come to the United States.

Biden administration will also utilise family-based visas or another temporary process known as "humanitarian parole."

The announcement coincided with Biden's meeting with European leaders in Brussels to coordinate the Western response to the crisis.

More than 3.6 million people have fled since Russia launched attacks on Ukraine on February 24, according to the United Nations.

READ MORE: Ukraine refugees: where are they fleeing to?

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'Burden sharing'

Before the crisis erupted in Ukraine, Biden launched the nation's largest US resettlement programme since the Vietnam War by accepting about 80,000 Afghans after US troops left Afghanistan following 20 years of war.

Now he has said the United States would welcome Ukrainians, but administration officials have said they believe most will want to stay in Europe where they can travel visa-free and have family and friends.

Eastern European countries, most notably Poland, have received hundreds of thousands of people escaping the Russian shelling of cities and towns across Ukraine. 

Those countries want additional assistance from other nations to take in refugees, with the European Union set to discuss "fair burden sharing."

The United States has also allocated billions of dollars in economic aid to fleeing Ukrainians and countries hosting them.

READ MORE: Thousands of Afghan refugees in US get temporary protection status

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