Conflicts & War

Over 1.7 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russian invasion

Geneva, Mar 7 (EFE).- The number of Ukrainians who have fled their homeland since the Russian invasion of their country began 12 days ago has risen to 1.73 million, the United Nations Refugee Agency said Monday.

The majority — more than one million — are in neighboring Poland, while Hungary has received 180,000 Ukrainian refugees, Slovakia 128,000, Romania 79,000 and Moldova 82,000, to which some 53,000 must be added, who have fled to Russia, according to UNHCR.

The UN refugee agency estimates that the conflict could cause an exodus of up to four million people, the equivalent of almost a tenth of Ukraine’s population.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned this weekend that the refugee crisis in Ukraine is the fastest growing since World War II.

Meanwhile, ahead of an informal meeting of European Union development ministers in the southern French city of Montpellier, the EU’s foreign and security policy chief, Josep Borrell, warned that the bloc should prepare for as many as five million Ukrainian refugees if Russia’s bombing campaign continues. EFE

abc-ac/ks/ch

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