More than 3.3 million refugees have now fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the United Nations said on Saturday. This is 58,030 more people to have joined the paths of the exodus since the previous report established Friday by the UNHCR, the United Nations agency for refugees. In addition, nearly 6.5 million people are believed to be internally displaced.
“People continue to flee because they are afraid of bombs, airstrikes and indiscriminate destruction,” said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi. Help is vital but cannot end fear. Only stopping the war can do that. »
The threshold of 4 million refugees could be exceeded
Around 90% of those who fled are women and children. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 can indeed be called up and must remain in their country.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) also reported that as of last Wednesday, 162,000 third-country nationals had fled Ukraine.
The UNHCR had initially estimated that a maximum of four million people could leave Ukraine, but the organization admitted last week that this figure could well be revised upwards. Prior to the conflict, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in government-controlled areas, excluding Russia- annexed Crimea and pro-Russian breakaway areas to the east.
Source: 20minutes
