Up to 100,000 Russia-Ukraine war refugees to be allowed into US

More than 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine since war started one month ago

Daniil, 13, son of Maryna Galla, leans on a handrail at the Central Station in Berlin, Germany. Maryna and her son reached Berlin on Thursday after a long journey from Mariupol in Ukraine. AP

A woman from Ukraine walks up the stairs to her room in a hostel in Budapest, Hungary. AP

A young boy from Ukraine eats chocolate in a hostel in Budapest. AP

A girl from Ukraine rests on the floor in the Budapest hostel for refugees. AP

A woman who fled Ukraine waits in the hostel in Budapest. Nearly 300 Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, are being housed in the hostel near the centre of Budapest. AP

A woman comforts a child as refugees wait in a hall at the train station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border. AFP

Ukrainian refugees look out of the window of a train bound for Krakow at Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters

Ukrainian refugee Zoya Vertegel, aged 85, waits to board a train to Krakow on the platform at Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters

Ukrainian refugees wait for transport at the railway station in Warsaw, Poland. AP

A child who fled the Russian invasion in neighbouring Ukraine plays with a yellow balloon in a ballroom converted into a makeshift refugee shelter at a four-star hotel in Suceava, Romania. AP

Border police at the Romanian-Ukrainian border push an elderly woman in an office chair after she fled the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine. AP

Passengers wait on the platform of Lviv railway station in Ukraine. AP

A child sits in a pushchair after fleeing Ukraine at the Romanian border in Siret. AP

People who fled the war in Ukraine rest inside an indoor sports stadium being used as a refugee centre in the village of Medyka in Poland. AP

A wheelchair user who fled the conflict in Ukraine awaits transport at the Romanian-Ukrainian border in Siret. AP

Ukrainian refugees cry as they reunite at the Medyka border crossing in Poland. AP

Refugees from Ukraine cross the border at Medyka in south-eastern Poland. AFP

A shelter for Ukrainian war refugees in a sports hall in the small Bavarian village of Eichenau, near Munich, in southern Germany. AFP

The sports hall is equipped with camp beds. AFP

Ukrainian refugees play on the floor in the sports hall. AFP

Ukrainian refugees line up to register in Warsaw. AP

Refugees wait for transport at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, after fleeing the war in Ukraine. AP

Refugees wait for transport at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, after fleeing the war in neighbouring Ukraine. AP

Ukrainian refugees walk to their foster home in the village of Mumliswil after travelling from Krakow in a plane chartered by a Swiss millionaire. AFP

About 90 Ukrainians - nearly all women and children - are being flown to Switzerland to escape the violence in their conflict-torn country. The plane was chartered by Swiss millionaire Guido Fluri. AFP

A woman receives help from Polish paramedics as other Ukrainian refugees pass through the border crossing in Medyka in south-eastern Poland. AP

Ukrainian refugee Karolina, aged 3, from Nikopol, looks through a fence as she arrives at Przemysl Glowny train station. Reuters

A Ukrainian woman sits on a bed at an exhibition hall turned into a refugee centre in Nadarzyn, near Warsaw, Poland. AP

Refugees from Ukraine wait to get on buses to other destinations in Poland outside the train station in Przemysl. AFP

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The US is to accept up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and provide an extra $1 billion in humanitarian aid to those impacted by the war, the White House said on Thursday.

"The United States is announcing plans to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia's aggression through the full range of legal pathways, including the US Refugee Admissions Program," it said in a statement released as US President Joe Biden attended summits in Brussels focused on the war.

The White House also said it would back new efforts, including the establishment of a conflict observatory, to gather information about potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

More than 3.5 million people have fled since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, according to the United Nations, straining support systems in the neighbouring European countries receiving them.

The UN says more than 3. 6 million people have fled Ukraine since the war started exactly one month ago in what is the biggest movement of people in Europe since World War II.

Unprepared, most refugees believed they would soon be back home. That hope is waning now.