5 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russian invasion: UNHCR

Geneva, Apr 20 (EFE).- The total number of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the Russian invasion reached five million on Wednesday, with 20,000 of them fleeing the country the last 24 hours, according the latest daily figures released by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

Moreover, at least another 7.1 million people remain internally displaced inside Ukraine, taking the total number of people having to leave their houses since the war began to over 12 million, equivalent to more than one-fourth of its population

Poland has received more than half of the refugees from Ukraine (2.8 million), followed by other neighboring countries such as such as Romania (757,000, many of them having previously passed through Moldova), Russia (549,000) and Hungary (471,000).

Most of these refugees are women, children and the elderly, according to United Nations humanitarian agencies.

This is the largest exodus of refugees on the European continent since the Second World War (1939-1945). EFE

abc/sc