President Biden will meet with NATO allies and G-7 leaders on Thursday before heading to Poland — a nation grappling with millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's war in their country.
Donations are pouring in — but they don't always address the needs of the many displaced and homeless Ukrainians who've lost practically everything they own.
Nearly three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion began — most of them to Poland. NPR visits two border crossings that highlight the differences in reception refugees are seeing.
Wojciech Bakun admits he was ill-prepared to become a front-line humanitarian worker dealing with the rush of refugees from Ukraine. And some onlookers have been surprised by his response too.
The Hotel Ilan in Poland has a renowned and troubled history for the country's Jewish community. Now, it has found a new purpose helping Ukrainians fleeing the war Russia has wrought on their country.
Poland offered to stage fighter jets for Ukraine on a U.S. base in Germany. The Pentagon said that wasn't tenable. It all happened the day before Vice President Harris left for Warsaw.
Thousands of Ukrainians have arrived in Poland after the country declared its borders open to refugees escaping the Russian incursion. But some are returning to Ukraine to find family or to fight.
The hospitality greeting Ukrainians fleeing the violence in their native country has highlighted the stark differences in treatment given to migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
After luring asylum-seekers to the EU as a political stunt, Belarus has now sent people back to the dangerous place they were escaping, rights groups and migrants tell NPR.
The crisis appears to be stoked by the leader of Belarus over the country's tensions with the bloc. Polish border guards have used water cannons and tear gas to turn back stone-throwing migrants.
Thousands of migrants are camped along the border of Belarus and Poland, trapped between the countries. EU officials accuse Belarus of luring them across the border.
Poland has stopped some 16,000 migrants crossing its border from Belarus since August, and accuses Belarus' authoritarian regime of facilitating illegal migration into the European Union.
In 2019, more than 100 provinces and municipalities in Poland passed resolutions declaring they were "LGBT-free." They're backing down as the EU warns it will cut off funding to local governments.
