Thousands queue at Ukraine’s border with Romania for evacuation

TEREBLECHE, Ukraine

Thousands of people in Ukraine lined up Tuesday at the country's western border with Romania in an effort to flee the war-torn country.

A column of private vehicles and passenger buses stretched for several kilometers near the border in Terebleche, a village in Ukraine’s Chernivtsi region.

A number of people along with volunteers were seen distributing free food, water, hot tea and snacks to people waiting at the border amid the frigid weather and snow.

Several ambulances were also dispatched to the area to provide emergency aid if needed.

Many women, children and elderly people were among those standing in line for hours, hoping for a better life on the other side of the border.

Special evacuation buses arranged by the Turkish Embassy to Kyiv were seen transporting Turkish citizens along with their families and relatives via the border line towards Turkiye.

Turkiye has evacuated 12,306 citizens from Ukraine since Russia launched a war on its neighbor, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday.

Ukrainian border service officers at the Porubne Border Crossing Point have been entering the passenger evacuation buses, collecting people’s passports to facilitate transit across the border.

The Romania–Ukraine border consists of both a land and maritime boundary. The total border length is 613.8 kilometers (381.4 miles), including 292.2 kilometers (181.6 miles) by rivers and 33 kilometers (21 miles) by the Black Sea.

It has been part of the external border of the European Union since Romania's accession to the bloc in January 2007.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

At least 474 civilians have been killed and 861 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, according to the UN, which cautioned that conditions on the ground make it difficult to verify the true number.

Some 2 million people have also fled to neighboring countries, said the UN Refugee Agency.