Polish authorities want to relieve refugee pressure and the United Nations calls on countries to avoid discrimination between refugees on the grounds of race and religion

The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed the response of developed countries to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, urging them to act in a similar manner towards refugees from other war zones regardless of nationality, race or religion.

Al-Jazeera correspondent also reported that the Polish authorities are seeking to coordinate with some embassies to transfer Ukrainian refugees directly from the borders to other countries.

These efforts come to relieve pressure on Polish cities after the number of refugees in the country approached about two million.

For his part, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expected the arrival of a larger wave of Ukrainian refugees next week.

In a video statement, which he posted on his Facebook page, Orban did not explain why he expected this, especially since the number of refugees flowing at the Hungarian border has decreased significantly.

The number of people who have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24 has jumped to more than 3 million, in what has become the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

The vast majority of them were received with aid and the possibility of obtaining temporary housing and work in the countries bordering Ukraine, with a large number beginning to move west.

Some human rights groups and Arab refugees pointed to the contrast between the Western response and the way Europe sought to return Syrian and other refugees in 2015, when about 12 million Syrians were displaced from their country due to the war.

The UN refugee agency said it was "deeply concerned by the growing xenophobia, discrimination and exclusion" against refugees and asylum seekers in the past few years, and it felt the Ukrainian refugee crisis was providing an opportunity to reflect.

refugee policies

"We welcome the tremendous reception and solidarity that has been shown to refugees in the past few days, and hope this inspires some reflection and a shift from some of the toxic narratives and policies we've seen in a number of cases," UNHCR spokeswoman Catherine Mahoney said.

"UNHCR continues to advocate for protection for all those who request it - including those from Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia and other countries and regions - based on international obligations of asylum countries to protect refugees," she added in an interview this week.

She said that the agency is in discussions with countries in Europe - including Britain and the United States - regarding their policies towards refugees.

"For example, we have repeatedly called for an end to the practice of (turning back) preventing refugees from entering the territory of a particular country," she added.

Mahoney noted that the UN refugee agency welcomed the EU's move, and that there was an urgent need for countries to respond similarly to other "serious" and "unresolved" displacements caused by humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Syria, Ethiopia and elsewhere.

The European Union said it would grant Ukrainian refugees the right to reside and work in its countries for up to 3 years.

Policies dealing with Ukrainian refugees "are starkly at odds with the policies and practices we continue to see with regard to migrants and refugees from other parts of the world, most of whom are colored and black," said Judith Sunderland, associate director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division.