MEDYKA, Poland -- Dragging suitcases and carrying children, tens of thousands of Ukrainians rushed to the borders Saturday as invading Russian troops pressed on with their march toward Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
At least 150,000 people have fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighboring countries in the wake of the Russian invasion, the U.N. refugee agency said Saturday. Some walked many miles through the night while others fled by train, car or bus, forming long lines at border crossings. They were greeted by waiting relatives and friends, or they headed on their own to reception centers organized by neighboring governments.
"The numbers and the situation is changing minute by minute," said Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "At least 150,000 people have fled; they are refugees outside of Ukraine. ... At least 100,000 people -- but probably a much larger number -- have been displaced inside Ukraine."
"Heartfelt thanks to the governments and people of countries keeping their borders open and welcoming refugees," said Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency. He warned that "many more" Ukrainians were moving toward the borders.
The agency forecasts that as many as 4 million Ukrainians could flee if the situation deteriorates further.
Those arriving were mostly women, children and the elderly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy banned men of military age, from 18 to 60, from leaving. Some Ukrainian men were heading back into Ukraine from Poland to take up arms against the Russian forces.
The largest numbers were arriving in Poland, where 2 million Ukrainians have already settled to work in recent years, driven away by Russia's first incursion into Ukraine -- when it annexed Crimea in 2014 -- or seeking opportunities in the booming economy of the European Union neighbor.
Poland's government said Saturday that more than 100,000 Ukrainians had crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border in the previous 48 hours. Poland declared its border open to fleeing Ukrainians, even for those without official documents, and dropped its requirement to show a negative covid-19 test.
The line of vehicles waiting to enter Poland at the Medyka border crossing stretched many miles into Ukraine.
A woman from Lviv named Lena described seeing toys and heavy bags that people had abandoned along the way. She was taking her four children to safety in Poland and planned to return to join her husband. Like other Ukrainians returning home as their country fights Russia, she would only give her first name.
In contrast to other conflicts around the world, Russia's unprovoked attack has ignited an outpouring of support for the fleeing Ukrainians. This includes an unconditional welcome from nations such as Poland and Hungary that did not want to accept those fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
"Anyone fleeing from bombs, from Russian rifles, can count on the support of the Polish state," Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski told reporters Thursday. His government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a border wall, a project it began after refugees and migrants from the Middle East tried to reach the country last year but ended up stuck in neighboring Belarus.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Europe's most anti-migrant leaders, traveled last week to the border town of Beregsurany, where he said Hungary was accepting all citizens and legal residents of Ukraine.
"We're letting everyone in," Orban said.
And Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that "of course we will take in refugees if necessary" in light of the crisis in Ukraine. As recently as last fall, when he was serving as interior minister, Nehammer tried to block some Afghans seeking refuge after the Taliban overthrew the government in Kabul.
"It's different in Ukraine than in countries like Afghanistan," he was quoted as saying during an interview on a national TV program. "We're talking about neighborhood help."
The U.N. said most Ukrainians were heading to neighboring Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia but that some even fled into Belarus -- from which some Russian forces entered Ukraine. Some Ukrainians planned to head farther on to other countries in Europe.
Diplomats and experts said European states willing to take in Ukrainians might be trying, in part, to highlight Russian aggressions against civilians by offering a humanitarian response.
"If you think of causing the refugee crisis as one of Putin's tools to destabilize the West, then a calm, efficient, orderly response is a really good rebuke to that," said Serena Parekh, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and director of its politics, philosophy and economics program.
Information for this article was contributed by Bela Szandelszky, Florent Bajrami, Jamey Keaten and Stephen McGrath of The Associated Press; and by Lara Jakes of The New York Times
Sisters wait at a checkpoint run by local volunteers Saturday after their family crossed the border in Beregsurany, Hungary. (AP/Anna Szilagyi)
Hospital employees and volunteers make hundreds of beds Saturday in Rzeszow, Poland, to prepare for an influx of Ukrainian refugees. (AP/Visar Kryeziu)