UN agency urges advanced countries to offer protection to all refugees in need

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/File Photo

(Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed the response by advanced countries to the Ukrainian refugee crisis and urged them to act in a similar way towards refugees from other war zones, regardless of nationality, race or religion.

The number of people fleeing Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 has climbed to more than 3 million in what has become Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War Two.