‘The need is huge’: More than 3 million refugees in Ukraine crisis

(NewsNation) — Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukraine has edged closer to central Kyiv, the capital and most populous city of Ukraine.

The International Organization for Migration said the number of people who have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 passed 3 million on Tuesday.

Cinira Baldi, vice president of Project Hope, talked about the growing refugee crisis during an appearance on “Morning in America”.

“The need is huge,” Baldi said. “Everything is needed from shelter to medical supplies to insulin.”

Project Hope is a global health and humanitarian organization based in Washington, D.C., and works on the front lines in more than 30 countries around the world, partnering with communities, health care workers and public health systems to perform a number of humanitarian efforts.

“We currently have four teams responding to the crisis in Ukraine,” Baldi said. “We do everything from bringing in medical supplies, doctors, volunteers, to training.”

Project Hope has teams in Ukraine and Poland, Romania and Moldova.

“Food is going to definitely be a huge concern as we hear that there’s food security issues,” Baldi said. “There are requests for blankets, cots, hygiene kits, pretty much everything that you can imagine when someone has left their home will be needed.”

The U.N. has described the flood of people crossing into Poland and other neighboring countries as Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

According to border officials, as of last week, two refugees from Ukraine are entering Poland every three seconds.

“It is certainly a global situation,” Baldi stressed. “We originally had heard numbers around a potential of 5 million refugees but are now thinking that it’s going to be closer than 10 million.”

Baldi said Project Hope is looking at Ukraine as a long-term crisis.

“I think that the thing that people need to understand is that even if this war were to end tomorrow, it will take years to rebuild Ukraine and rebuild the health systems and the homes for the people who have fled,” she said. “And it will take all of the world coming together to continue to respond in the way that people are responding right now.”

You can learn more about Project Hope on its website.

Watch the full interview with Cinira Baldi in the video player at the top of the page.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.