The E.U. will make 10,000 hospital beds available for Ukrainian refugees.

The European Union will make at least 10,000 hospital beds available for Ukrainian refugees in need of urgent medical attention, it said Wednesday, noting that more than 3.5 million people had fled into the bloc, almost half of them school-age children.

The announcement is part of a broader effort to support member nations in providing health care, access to labor markets, education and housing for Ukrainian refugees. Other measures include providing education materials in Ukrainian and financial and logistical support for E.U. citizens who are hosting refugees in their homes.

The mass of refugees has posed a massive economic and logistical challenge for the E.U., presenting what the United Nations has called Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II. Some early estimates put the bill for housing, transporting, feeding and processing the flood of humanity at $30 billion in the first year alone. Read more

@nytimes