PHILADELPHIA - The United States is expanding efforts to help Ukrainian refugees. It has agreed to accept up to 100,000 people escaping from the war and to increase support for Eastern European nations that have taken in most of the people fleeing Russian forces.While in Brussels to meet with European allies, President Joe Biden said the United States would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and provide $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to countries affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The financial support is important because most of the approximately 3.6 million refugees who have fled Ukraine are in neighboring countries such as Poland, Moldova, and Romania and are posing a substantial burden."This is not something that Poland or Romania or Germany should carry on their own," said Biden, who said he hopes to meet with refugees on his European trip. "This is an international responsibility."A Delaware County bartender is hosting "Cocktails with a Cause" to help raise money for Ukraine refugees who continue to flee their homeland in record numbers.
Sam Whitaker connected with a Ukrainian web designer and her young daughter days before Russia launched its full scale invasion.Among the first Ukrainians refugee coming to the U.S.
will be those who have family already in the United States, Biden said at a news conference. The administration did not provide a timeline, but it’s typically a lengthy process and the officials said all 100,000 may not necessarily arrive this year.