More than 45k Americans have agreed to sponsor Ukrainian refugees

Within one month of launching the program, more than 45,000 Americans have signed up to house Ukrainian refugees displaced by the Russian invasion of the Eastern European country.

The Russian Federation launched an invasion of Ukraine in late February of this year, largely over Muscovite concerns about the former Soviet Republic seeking closer ties with the European Union and NATO.

According to CBS, more than 6,500 Ukrainians have already arrived in the Uniting for Ukraine program which will allow for 100,000 Ukrainians to resettle in the country with the support of American sponsors.

The report further highlighted that the Department of Homeland Security has also approved another 27,000 Ukrainians to enter the country with sponsor support. Another 22,000 Ukrainians have entered the United States via the nation's southern border with Mexico, making a total of 45,500 Ukrainian entrants to the United States. Another 54,500 could potentially seek refuge in the country without additional congressional support.

Under the Uniting for Ukraine program, entrants do not receive traditional refugee status, but rather "parole" which allows participants to remain in the country and work for a period of two years. Approximately 15 percent of applicant sponsors, 7,300, live in New York, according to DHS figures that CBS obtained.

As of early June, Russian forces occupy a slice of Ukrainian territory in the southern part of the country stretching from the Crimea to the Russian border near Donbass. The strategic port city of Mariupol fell last month while Severodoentsk largely entered Russian custody on Thursday. Roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory is currently under Russian control.