The bar of 2.5 million people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine to find refuge abroad has been exceeded, two weeks after the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the latest UN count published on Friday.
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The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) listed exactly 2,504,893 refugees from Ukraine on its dedicated website around 11:00 GMT. These are nearly 189,000 more than during the previous tally.
Of those 2.5 million, some 116,000 are third-country nationals, according to the International Organization for Migration.
AFP
This is the fastest flow on the European continent since the Second World War, according to the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
The authorities and the UN expect the flow to intensify further, as the Russian army expands its offensive to the west.
Four million people could want to leave the country to escape the war, according to the first forecasts of the UN, a figure which should certainly be revised upwards, according to the UNHCR.
Before this conflict, Ukraine was populated by more than 37 million people in the territories controlled by Kiev – which therefore does not include the Crimea annexed by Russia, nor the areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Poland alone hosts more than half of all refugees who have fled since the start of the Russian invasion.
In total, just over 1.5 million refugees are present in this country, according to the UNHCR count as of March 11.
Since February 24, 1,520,000 people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine have entered Poland, the Polish border guards have announced. The day before, Thursday, they registered 87,000 travelers.
AFP
Tens of thousands of people are also crossing the border in the opposite direction.
These returnees may be men who work in Poland but return to enlist. There are also people who work in Poland but decide to return to take care of old parents, for example, and those who only go there to look for their relatives and return immediately with them to Poland. Finally, there are refugees who decide to return out of homesickness or to avoid someone occupying their accommodation.
Before this crisis, Poland was already home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians who came, for the most part, to work in this member country of the European Union.
Hungary hosts 225,000 people, according to UNHCR figures as of March 10.
AFP
The country has five border posts with Ukraine and several border towns, such as Zahony, have converted public buildings into relief centers, where Hungarian civilians come to offer food or assistance.
Slovakia has counted 176,000 people who have fled Ukraine, according to the UNHCR’s updated update as of March 10.
AFP
The number of people who have found refuge in Russia stands at nearly 106,000 as of March 10.
UNHCR also notes that between February 18 and 23, 96,000 people crossed from the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk into Russia.
After their arrival in Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million inhabitants and one of the poorest in Europe, some of the refugees continue their journey to Romania or Hungary, often to find family.
AFP
According to the Moldovan authorities, since February 24, nearly 280,000 people have entered the country through Ukraine and nearly 180,000 have left.
According to the UNHCR count, 105,000 refugees from Ukraine were registered in the country as of March 10.
UNHCR has not updated its statistics for Romania. The UN refugee agency counted nearly 85,000 refugees as of March 8. As with Moldova, many refugees decide to move on once they are safe.
AFP
Since February 24, 365,000 people have entered and just over 280,000 left, Romanian authorities detailed on Friday.
The UNHCR also specified that a little more than 280,000 people had continued their journey, once the Ukrainian border had been crossed, towards other European countries.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca