(NewsNation) — Of the nearly 3.3 million refugees who have fled Ukraine in the weeks since the Russian invasion began, nearly 2 million of them have stopped in neighboring Poland, creating a massive refugee crisis.
Zamosc, a Polish city near the border of Ukraine, has seen a dramatic population increase as floods of refugees continue to pour in — most bringing nothing but a suitcase.
“It’s hard. People are fleeing the war and they have nothing left. They have no food and no money,” one woman told NewsNation’s Robert Sherman in Zamosc.
Zamosc Mayor Andrzej Wnuk said his town is simply overwhelmed and the writing is already on the wall.
“We have never seen a refugee crisis like this since the Second World War. We need help,” Wnuk said. “Two million have already crossed into Poland. They will need long-term accommodations.”
According to UNHCR, more than 3.3 million people have now fled Ukraine, and millions more are internally displaced.
Wnuk said many who fled other Ukrainian cities were taking shelter in the Western Ukrainian town of Lviv, close to the Polish border. But if the devastating bombing of Lviv continues, Wnuk expects hundreds of thousands more to cross into Poland.