Europe girds for Ukrainian refugees from cities under bombardment

FILE PHOTO: People walk past tents on their way to board a train after crossing the border from Ukraine to Poland, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the border checkpoint in Medyka, Poland, March 9, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

PRZEMYSL, Poland (Reuters) - Eastern Europe braced for a surge of refugees from shelled towns and cities in Ukraine on Thursday as fighting following Russia's invasion intensified and the United Nations said more than 2.3 million people had now fled the country.

Ukraine had hoped to start evacuating civilians through seven "humanitarian corridors" on Thursday, a day after it said a children's hospital was hit in a Russian air strike on the southern port city of Mariupol, where thousands are pinned down without access to water, medicine or food.