Politics

UN: 2.8 million refugees have left Ukraine since war began

Geneva, March 14 (EFE).- The United Nations said 2.8 million people have been forced to flee from Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, prompting the organization’s refugee agency to declare a level 3 emergency on Monday, the highest classification for humanitarian crises.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said half of the people who had fled, 1.7 million, had arrived in Poland.

Neighboring countries continue to receive a steady stream of refugees with 255,000 arriving in Hungary, 204,000 in Slovakia, 131,000 in Russia, 106,000 in Moldova, 84,000 in Romania and 1,200 in Belarus.

Other European nations that do not share a border with Ukraine have hosted 304,000 refugees.

The UN said over two million people had been internally displaced by the war.

“​​We are helping and can do more in areas like protection and registration, organizing reception capacity, providing emergency relief and cash assistance, and in identifying and responding to the needs of the most vulnerable, many of them women and children, including a growing number of unaccompanied and separated children,” The UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

The UNHCR said if the conflict continues, the number of refugees could exceed 4 million, and the number of internally displaced persons could reach 6.7 million.

The humanitarian crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the worst in Europe since World War II. EFE

abc/ch/mp

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