Who will come forward and receive up to five million war refugees from Ukraine?

Europe may face the biggest wave of refugees since World War II.

Disaster is the responsibility of the whole world.

The focus is on the United States, with the expectation that President Biden will offer asylum.

UNICEF has updated its forecast of expected refugee flows and now says that from one to up to five million Ukrainians may flee.

On Friday, 100,000 people crossed the Polish border, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker.

According to Polish data, this may have been up to 150,000. People are also fleeing to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.

A single long traffic jam

The motorway between Kiev and the Polish border crossing Mydeka is reported to be a single long traffic jam. 

At the train station in Przemysl, we witness how 600 people drown for every train that crosses the border. 

At the same time, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry states that it will close part of the border for pedestrians and motorists. 

On social media, Poles state that they are now planning car convoys in via small roads with upwards of 40 cars to save Ukrainians and put them in safety.

The pressure is mounting on the European Commission

If 100,000 people came on the second day of the war, it is not difficult to calculate how many could be expected to flee in the coming weeks.

The pressure is now increasing on the European Commission.

It has so far been said in rather vague terms that the EU can receive "from 20,000 migrants" and that the border authority Frontex can assist the countries that receive refugees. 

In Poland, there are completely new tones.

The Polish ruling party "Law and Justice" was elected in 2015 with a pronounced immigration-critical policy, most recently in January they built a fence against Belarus to keep people out.

Then it was said that the Polish border should not be as hollow as a Swiss cheese.

Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski has said that Poland will receive everyone who crosses the border and estimates that up to one million Ukrainians will come here.

"Poland is a safe country for our citizens and should also be for our neighbors," he said.

Has a certain self-interest

Poland also has a certain self-interest.

There is a shortage of labor here and in January the government eased entry rules for Ukrainians who want to settle in Poland.

It is easy to get a work permit.

The government has attracted with the fact that wages are higher, jobs better and that life in the EU and NATO country Poland is more secure. 

But an exodus from Ukraine is not just a matter for Europe but for the world.

In the United States, several church leaders have demanded that the Biden administration offer refugees asylum.

But the counter-arguments are already heard, that last year the United States received 70,000 Afghans.

A more likely scenario, according to sources close to the White House, is that the United States will send supplies and aid to Poland and neighboring countries and assist them on the spot with the reception of refugees.

The refugee crisis in 2015 put the EU countries' ability to cooperate to the test and many immigrant-critical governments grew strong.

Now it is the governments, such as Poland and Hungary, that are opening their borders. 

The question is how other EU countries will act.

This crisis will make 2015 fade.

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Bjerström: "As large a wave of refugees as during World War II" Photo: Iman Tahbaz / SVT