Nearly 200,000 Ukraine refugees have left Poland by train

WARSAW (AFP): Of the two million refugees who fled Ukraine for Poland after Russia’s invasion, nearly 200,000 have since taken the train abroad, Poland’s railway operator said Tuesday.

“Nearly 400 regular trains have transported more than 140,000 people, while 45,000 people made use of the 113 extra trains,” Miroslaw Siemieniec, spokesman for the PLK operator, told AFP.

Most have gone on to Berlin, but some have also travelled to Prague and Vienna.

The refugees have been able to ride without a ticket since all of Poland’s trains — both regional and international — are currently free for those who fled the war.

Others have left Poland for other countries by car or plane, though no overall figures are available since it involves travel within the visa-free Schengen zone.

According to Poland’s border guard service, more than 2.1 million people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine since the war erupted late last month.

Others have ended up in Poland — which already counted around 1.5 million Ukrainians before the war — after having first crossed the Moldovan or Romanian border.

The border guard service added that some 274,000 people have left Poland for Ukraine since the war began.