16 Mar 2022 19:59

Slightly over 100,000 refugees from Ukraine currently staying in Moldova - Interior Ministry

CHISINAU. March 16 (Interfax) - Slightly more than 100,000 refugees from Ukraine are currently in Moldova, Alexandru Oprea, chief of the Moldovan Interior Ministry's Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations, said on Wednesday.

"As many as 100,832 Ukrainian citizens, nearly half of them minors, are staying on Moldovan territory. A total of 4,748 applications for asylum have been submitted to the Moldovan Interior Ministry's Migration and Asylum Bureau, about half of them from citizens of other countries evacuated from Ukraine," Oprea told journalists.

A total of 309,723 refugees from Ukraine have entered and 207,671 have left Moldova from February 24 to March 16, he said.

The flow of refugees has been gradually decreasing, and their number staying in the country has declined from about 130,000 to 100,000 since March 8 owing to agreements with Romania and other European Union countries that have opened green corridors for refugees to travel via Moldova to the EU, Oprea said.

In view of the situation in Ukraine, the Moldovan parliament has declared a state of emergency for 60 days starting February 24.