Ten million people — more than a quarter of the population — have already fled their homes in Ukraine because of Russia's “devastating” war, the United Nations refugee chief said Sunday.
“Among the responsibilities of those who wage war, anywhere in the world, is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to flee their homes,” said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.
“The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million people have fled, either as internally displaced persons or as refugees abroad.”
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said on Sunday that 3,389,044 Ukrainians had left the country since the Russian invasion began on February 24, and that another 60,352 have joined the exodus since Saturday's update, a flow roughly the same as the previous day.
About 90 per cent of those who have fled are women and children. Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 can be called up and cannot leave.
UNICEF, the UN agency for children, said that more than 1.5 million children are among those who have fled abroad, and warned that the risks they face from human trafficking and exploitation are “real, and growing.”
The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) also said that as of Wednesday, 162,000 third-country nationals had fled Ukraine to neighboring states.
Millions more have fled their homes, but remain within the borders of Ukraine. As of Wednesday, an estimated 6.48 million people were displaced within Ukraine, according to UN and related agencies, following a representative survey by IOM.
UNHCR initially estimated that up to four million people could leave Ukraine, a figure that could be reached at the current rate in 10 days.
Prior to the conflict, Ukraine had a population of 37 million inhabitants in the regions under government control, excluding Crimea annexed to Russia and the pro-Russian separatist regions of the east.
(With information from AFP)
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