21,988 Ukrainians apply for asylum in Finland

The number of Ukrainians refugees in Finland has raised to 21,988 until May 5 following Russia´s attack on Ukraine, said the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) on Friday.

Nearly all of them applied for temporary protection. Out of the total applicants lodged by the people fleeing Ukraine, 21,445 were citizens of Ukraine while 279 were citizens of other countries.

Altogether 1121 Ukrainians applied for both asylum and for temporary protection, which means that the total number of Ukrainian applicants this year is 21,996 and 21,988 of them applied after 24 February.

The Migri had made a decision on 17,614 applications for temporary protection so far.

At the moment, the estimated processing time of an application for temporary protection is one week.

Meanwhile, the Migri is preparing to set up new reception centres due to the increased need to provide accommodation for people fleeing Ukraine.