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The EU will take in refugees from Ukraine by granting them an initial one-year residency permit that comes with the right to education and employment — but does not guarantee asylum for everyone fleeing the war.
In a rare show of unity on the divisive issue of migration, EU countries invoked a temporary protection status that was designed in the fallout from the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia but had never previously been activated.
About a million people are already estimated to have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries, including EU members Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, the last of which will be home to an EU-run humanitarian hub.
The number of refugees is expected to rise as reports of Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine continue.
Who is eligible for protection?
Three categories of people are eligible for protection if the war forces them out of their homes:
Ukrainian nationals and their families;
Long-term residents of Ukraine and their families;
Foreign nationals and stateless people with a temporary status in Ukraine and their families — but only if they cannot return to their country of origin.
Family members covered are spouses and partners, children under 18 and close relatives who lived with the family before they had to flee.
Operational guidelines sent to border guards say checks should be simplified and take place away from usual crossing points to speed up the process, but that security procedures should still take place.
Who is not eligible?
Those who have only a temporary status in Ukraine, such as asylum seekers and people under international protection, are expected to return to their home countries — if they can safely do so.
The European Commission said these people should be allowed to transit through EU countries on their way home.
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A Ukrainian serviceman stands near captured Russian tanks, one painted in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag and the other marked with the letter 'Z' in the north of the Kharkiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
Russian military vehicles with the letter 'Z' painted on them. Reuters -
French Air Force jets patrol airspace over Poland. Nicolas Tucat / AFP -
The patrol is part of Nato's surveillance system. Photo by Nicolas Tucat / AFP -
The German-flagged 'Seacod' oil tanker moored at Birkenhead Docks near the Stanlow Oil Refinery in the UK. -
A woman holds the hand of a child as they flee Ukraine. AP Photo / Markus Schreiber -
A young woman clutches a doll as she crosses the border in Medyka, Poland. AP Photo / Markus Schreiber -
A woman weeps after finding a friend at the border crossing in Medyka. AP Photo / Markus Schreiber -
People walk with their belongings as they flee Ukraine. AP Photo / Markus Schreiber -
Ukrainian refugees arrive at Berlin central station, Germany, from Poland on March 4. EPA / Filip Singer -
Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, prompting the country's president to declare martial law and triggering a series of announcements by western countries to impose severe economic sanctions on Russia. EPA / Filip Singer -
Military vessels docked at the military harbour of Constanta, Romania, on March 4. Daniel Mihailescu / AFP -
A child plays with a pigeon during a protest in San Jose, Costa Rica, against the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Ezequiel Becerra / AFP -
Ukrainian citizens in San Jose, Costa Rica, protest against the Russian invasion in Ukraine on March 4. Ezequiel Becerra / AFP -
People fleeing Ukraine wait to board a bus in Palanca Village, Moldova. EPA / Dumitru Doru -
Ukrainians living in Britain join a protest at Trafalgar Square, London. EPA / Andy Rain -
Ludmila Shkarupa, 73, from Ukraine, sits on a chair wrapping herself with a sleeping bag to avoid the cold at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. AP -
A view shows a thermal power plant destroyed by shelling amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region. Reuters -
People fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine use mobile devices in a temporary refugee centre located at a local track-and-field athletics stadium in Chisinau, Moldova. Reuters -
A local resident walks past the remains of a house of culture following a night air raid in the village of Byshiv, 40 kilometres west of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A member of the Ukrainian military guards an evacuation train of women and children who fled fighting in Bucha and Irpin. Getty Images -
A member of the Ukrainian military gives instructions to women and children that fled fighting in Bucha and Irpin before boarding an evacuation train to Kyiv after heavy fighting overnight forced many to leave their homes. Getty Images -
A person demonstrates outside the Russian embassy in London following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
The Danish rescue group Falck A/S has donated 30 ambulances to Ukraine and neighbouring countries, where they will be used by local emergency services. AFP -
An aerial view of the remains of the local house of culture following a night air raid in the village of Byshiv, 40 kilometres west of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
People fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine rest in a temporary refugee centre located at a local track-and-field athletics stadium in Chisinau, Moldova. Reuters -
Ukrainian Oleg, who decided to remain in Irpin, comforts his son, Maksim, and his wife, Yana, before the arrival of an evacuation train to the city of Kyiv. EPA -
Yevghen Zbormyrsky, 49, runs in front of his burning house after being shelled in the city of Irpin, outside Kyiv. AFP -
People remove personal belongings from a burning house after being shelled in Irpin. AFP -
Medical workers tend to a Ukrainian serviceman wounded during the fighting with Russian troops near the Ukrainian capital, in a hospital in Kyiv. AFP -
A mother of a wounded Ukrainian serviceman waits outside his ward in a hospital in Kyiv. AFP -
Refugees from Ukraine arrive at an assistance point organised in the sports hall of a primary school in Lubycza Krolewska in Poland. EPA -
A member of Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces at a checkpoint in Kyiv. Reuters -
People carry their belongings past the debris of last week's combat in Kyiv. AFP -
Shelves in a supermarket stand empty in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. Reuters -
War refugees from Ukraine at the assistance point organised at the Torwar sports hall in Warsaw, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen, wounded during the fighting with Russian troops near the Ukrainian capital, rest outside a hospital in Kyiv. AFP -
A 3-year-old boy watches cartoons on a tablet while his mother sews military vests for the Ukrainian army in the western city of Lviv. AFP -
A woman's shock as she stands in front of a house burning after being shelled in Irpin, outside Kyiv. AFP -
People fleeing from Ukraine queue to board on a bus at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. AP -
Ukrainian refugees are tested for Covid-19 in a reception centre in Vienna, Austria. AFP -
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pose with foreign ministers after a meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Reuters -
People who fled Ukraine wait for a bus to take them to the train station in Przemysl, at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. AP Photo -
The extraordinary meeting of Nato ministers of foreign affairs about Russian aggression in Ukraine at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. EPA -
Messages in support of Ukraine on a board in the Ukrainian pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. AFP -
Firefighters at a warehouse that caught fire after shelling in the village of Chaiky in the Kyiv region. Reuters -
The wreckage of a missile at a bus terminal in Kyiv. Reuters -
A crater in front of a house damaged by shelling in the village of Hatne. Reuters -
The damaged administrative building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, a city in the Zaporizhzhia region. Reuters -
A bright object lands on the grounds of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, during heavy shelling by Russian forces. AP -
Zlata, 3, with her face painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, stands on the Romanian side of the border with Ukraine after fleeing the country. AP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends an interview with foreign media in Kyiv. Reuters -
Ukrainian artillerymen maintain their position in the Luhansk region. AFP -
Women and children try to board a train bound for Lviv, at a station in Kyiv. AP -
US soldiers on patrol near a military camp in Arlamow, Poland, near the border with Ukraine. AFP -
A woman and child look out the window of a train at a station in Kyiv. AP -
A descendant of Ukrainian immigrants attends Mass at a Ukrainian Orthodox church in Canoas, Brazil. Reuters -
Boxes of donations destined for Ukraine at the St Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Montreal, Canada. AP -
Firefighters battle a blaze at a damaged building in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv after a Russian air raid. AP -
A woman in Frankfurt, Germany, attends a protest against Russia's military offensive in Ukraine. AFP
How long can refugees stay?
The temporary protection status lasts for an initial period of one year. But it automatically rolls over for two further six-month periods, making two years, unless EU leaders decide otherwise.
Member states can extend the protection for one further year — to a total of three — at the proposal of the European Commission.
But the commission can also propose at any time to terminate the temporary protection if it deems that the situation in Ukraine has calmed and people can safely return home.
What will refugees get in the EU?
Refugees will have access to education, housing and the labour market, said EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson.
It means refugees from Ukraine will enjoy greater rights than some asylum seekers in Europe, who sometimes have to live in reception centres and are not allowed to work if staying there.
It also goes further than the rights offered in normal times to Ukrainians, who can typically visit the Schengen area — 26 European countries that have abolished all controls at their mutual borders — for up to three months without the right to work.
The temporary protection law says refugees should have access to social welfare and medical assistance and be able to apply for asylum through the usual route if required.
How have charities reacted?
Oxfam cautiously welcomed what it described as “direct lifeline” for refugees and said it could be a “turning point for Europe”, after what it called the mismanagement of previous migration crises.
It said all EU members needed to “chip in and take responsibility” to stop the four countries bordering Ukraine being overwhelmed — an issue which has proved a formidable obstacle to agreement on migration policy in the past.
Amnesty International said the eligibility criteria should be loosened and said the current rules “exposed the limitations of Europe’s solidarity”.
“We call on them to treat everyone fleeing this conflict equally,” said Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty’s EU office.
What are other countries doing?
The US has said Ukrainians already in America will be given an 18-month protection status that shields them from deportation and allows them to work.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden was open to accepting further refugees but added: “We would anticipate many of them would want to go to European countries.”
Britain has relaxed visa rules so that people already in the UK can bring grandparents, siblings and adult children over from Ukraine. These people will not have language tests but will still be subject to security checks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Ukrainians with no links to the UK would be eligible for visa sponsorship by communities or local authorities.
Switzerland says it is willing to discuss taking in refugees but cautioned that its federal asylum centres were nearing full capacity.
