At Romania hotel, ballroom welcomes refugees fleeing Ukraine

By RENATA BRITO
Associated Press
SUCEAVA, Romania (AP) — A four-star hotel in Romania has turned its lavish ballroom into a makeshift refugee shelter for the thousands crossing the borders from neighboring Ukraine each day. The first refugees began arriving at the Mandachi Hotel and Spa in Suceava soon after Russia began invading Ukraine. Since then, more than 2,000 people and 100 pets have taken shelter inside the 850-square-meter former ballroom, sleeping on numbered mattresses under an incongruous glittering disco ball. In what the United Nations has described as the swiftest refugee exodus so far this century, more than 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine in just 10 days. Local authorities say more than 227,000 Ukrainians have crossed into Romania.