Ukraine has about 44 million inhabitants. For almost a month he has been facing a Russian military invasion that is believed to have left thousands dead. Some 14,000 people have been killed since 2014 in a previous conflict between the army and Ukrainian separatists.
“Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, around the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes,” Grandi added.
The agency in charge of Grandi, the UNHCR, said today that 3,389,044 Ukrainians had left the country since the Russian invasion began on February 24 until yesterday, most headed for Poland.
Nine out of ten of them are women and children, he added.
Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country because they are subject to conscription into the Army under the martial law passed in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
According to UNICEF, the UN agency for children, said today, among those who fled abroad there are more than 1.5 million children.
The organization again warned of “real and growing” risks of trafficking and exploitation of human beings.
Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a body incorporated into the UN in recent years, said that 162,000 third-country nationals also fled Ukraine for neighboring countries since February 24.
Millions more have fled their homes but remain in Ukraine.
As of last Wednesday, some 6.48 million people were displaced within the country, according to the UN and IOM.
According to a UN report from the end of 2017, in Ukraine there were then 1.8 million people displaced by the conflict with separatist militias, which control part of the Donetsk and Lugansk provinces, which border Russia and are Russian-speaking.
The Russian government said today that more than 335,000 refugees have arrived on its territory after fleeing fighting in Donetsk and Luhansk since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Among them were more than 71,000 children, an official told the Russian news agency Sputnik.
UNHCR initially estimated that up to 4 million people could leave Ukraine due to the Russian invasion.
According to figures updated today, more than 2 million of the Ukrainian refugees fled to Poland, the country that received the most. They are followed by Romania (plus 527,000); Moldova (over 362,000); Hungary (over 305,000) and Slovakia (over 245,000).
Source: Ambito
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