BRUSSELS, March 4. /TASS/. The European Council engaged a temporary protection mechanism for Ukrainian refuges, who will be allowed to stay in the EU for between one and three years, the Council said in a statement Friday.

"The Council today adopted unanimously an implementing decision introducing temporary protection due to the mass influx of persons fleeing Ukraine as a consequence of the war," the statement reads.

The mechanism is being introduced for two years, and could be prolonged for two more years.