The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar says the Government is not going to set a limit on the number of Ukrainian citizens coming to Ireland.
He was speaking after the Cabinet announced it will extend special protections and rights to those who do come here.
This means they will not have to apply for asylum, and can work here for up to three years in most cases.
Mr Varadkar said Ireland will stand with other EU members.
"Even though Ukraine is not a member of the European Union, we'll treat Ukrainian citizens almost as though they are.
"We can't predict at this stage how many Ukrainians might come here - I've seen figures suggested, but it's just impossible to know how many it'll be.
"It could be a few thousand, it could be 20,000 as Minister Coveney suggested yesterday.
"But we're not going to set a limit on it.
"This is a war that's happening in Europe, we're Europeans and we need to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
"And also those other countries in central-eastern Europe who are bearing the brunt of this refugee crisis, which has been deliberately created by President Putin in order to attempt to destabilise the European Union - and we need to make sure he doesn't get away with that".
