The German federal police said it had already registered 5,300 refugees who arrived in Germany from Ukraine, with significantly more expected, the spokesman for the German interior ministry, Maximilian Kall, said on Wednesday.
“I can say that the federal police recorded the arrival of 5,309 refugees from Ukraine,” Kall told a briefing.
The spokesman went on to say that since the borders within the European Union were opened, there was a possibility that much more refugees would arrive, but not on the same scale as the neighbouring countries Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia are recording.
Earlier in the day, the German interior minister, Nancy Fraser, said the refugees from Ukraine did not need to go through the asylum procedure, that they would receive immediate protection for up to three years in European Union.
Last Thursday, Russia launched a military operation to “denazify” Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation was targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only.
More than half a million refugees have left Ukraine already, according to the UNHRC.
