United Sikhs, a human rights organisation that is affiliated with the United Nations, has been providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine for nearly two weeks, serving the emergency needs of refugees escaping the war.

The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24 has topped the “terrible milestone” of three million, the United Nations said Monday.

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Six in 10 Ukrainian refugees crossed the Polish border, with some 1,791,111 having done so.

The United Sikhs, in a statement said that more than a dozen volunteers, coming from as far as the US, Germany and UK have set up a relief base camp in Medyka, Poland, close to the Ukrainian border.

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The organisation’s humanitarian mission has served at least 100,000 refugees till date and its relief work is ongoing, it said. Volunteers have been providing hot meals, sanitation kits, water, clothes, among other daily necessities; even providing toys for the new born.

The team of volunteers undertook a 36-hour drive with supplies from the UK to the base camp in Poland last week, delivering everything from power generators and water pumps to socks and stoves to those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

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According to United Sikhs, at least eight people, including the elderly and children, have died waiting for nearly 18 hours to cross the border from Ukraine in bitterly cold conditions.

“This largest is one of the largest shelters that is currently set up at the border. It will serve as a short-term warming centre for refugees fighting the freezing weather conditions,” said volunteer Balwinder Singh.

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United Sikh said volunteers are also taking supplies from the base camp across the border into Ukraine to deliver urgently needed supplies for refugees waiting to cross the border. They are now serving on both sides of the border, 24 hours a day, it said.

United Sikhs is a UN affiliated non-profit organisation that works internationally to provide disaster relief and humanitarian aid. It has served dozens of humanitarian missions around the world in the last 20 years, including during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, and the COVID pandemic in 2020-21.