EU 'needs to be prepared for five million' refugees from Ukraine, says top diplomat Borell

The European Union should be ready for five million people fleeing Ukraine amid ongoing conflict with Russia, according to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Ahead of a meeting of European Foreign Ministers in Montpellier, France, EU's high representative Josep Borrell said, "We need to be prepared to receive five million people. We know that with the Syrian crisis in the 2015-16 years, which was the migrant crisis in Europe, we were talking about 1.5 million people; now it's going to be much more," reported CNN.

Borrell said the EU must mobilize not just humanitarian aid, but also the bloc's resources to support the EU countries bordering Ukraine set to receive refugees.

On Sunday, the UN refugee agency commissioner Filippo Grandi said more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine had crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days, describing the situation as "the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II."

( With inputs from ANI )