Ukrainian refugees face tougher border controls in Hungary

dpa Bucharest/Budapest Additional controls by the Hungarian border police have led to waiting times of several hours for refugees fleeing the war in Ukrai...

dpa Bucharest/BudapestAdditional controls by the Hungarian border police have led to waiting times of several hours for refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.On Wednesday the Romanian radio station Digi24 reported that queues of cars several kilometres long had formed at the crossing points of the Romanian-Hungarian border. However, the refugees were not being turned away by Hungary.The day before the Romanian border guards said their Hungarian counterparts had officially announced longer waiting times. Hungary wanted to check those Ukrainians who did not have biometric passports more closely, they said.The Hungarian authorities announced several days ago that Ukrainians without the correct documents could be stopped at the border and taken away for further questioning.Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing to Romania and from there on via Hungary towards Western Europe. Among them are children who do not have biometric passports, as well as elderly people who normally rarely travel abroad, a dpa reporter observed at the Romanian-Ukrainian border.Romania issues replacement passports to these people. Even before the refugees reach a neighbouring country, they often have to wait for hours at the Ukrainian border crossings because the authorities of their home country want to prevent able-bodied men from leaving.At the Hungarian-Romanian border crossings, border police from both countries check documentation together. Unlike Hungary, Romania is not part of the EU’s border control-free Schengen area.Last week, the EU states unanimously decided that the vast majority of war refugees from Ukraine should be granted protection quickly and without complications.The Polish frontier authority says 1.33 million Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland since the start of the war.On Tuesday alone, 125,800 people had crossed the border, the authority announced on Twitter on Wednesday. That was a slight decrease compared with the previous day, the authority said. About 93% of the refugees were Ukrainian citizens.It is unclear how many of the people arriving in Poland are travelling on to other countries.“The border guard has no information about people from Ukraine who have already left our country through the open internal borders of the Schengen area,” a spokeswoman said. “Since there are no controls, there are no statistics or estimates.”  The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates that most Ukrainian refugees wish to stay in Poland for the time being.In Germany aid organizations are urgently looking for suitable accommodation for many people with disabilities who have fled Ukraine.The head of the self-help group Lebenshilfe, Ulla Schmidt, said in Berlin on Wednesday that the “unbelievably great need” of those affected needed much more attention. Most of them are unable to provide for themselves or to get to safety, and so are particularly vulnerable to the war, she said.Local Lebenshilfe associations were providing support. For example, disabled children and their mothers were brought from Ukraine to Kaufbeuren in the southern state of Bavaria.Other organizations are also offering support. The Sputniks association, which represents about 2,000 Russian-speaking families with handicapped children in Germany, announced that it was helping affected Ukrainian parents to flee and was welcoming them. There are also contact points for deaf refugees.