About 680,000 people have reportedly fled Ukraine since Russian military invasion began February 24, with the number rising rapidly.
“The number of people who have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries has reached 677,000,” Filippo Grandi, who heads UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said on Twitter.
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The number of people who have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries has reached 677,000.
The @UN humanitarian agencies and their NGO partners have launched an appeal to donors for $ 1.7 billion to support affected people inside Ukraine, and refugees from Ukraine in the region.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) March 1, 2022
UNHCR projected on Tuesday that more than four million Ukrainian refugees may eventually need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries.
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The number of people who have fled the fighting in Ukraine has now reached nearly 700,000. UNHCR believes the total number of refugees will rise to four million
— Grahame Lucas (@GrahameLucas) March 1, 2022
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“We are looking at what could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century,” said Grandi.
The European Union’s crisis management commissioner has said the figure could reach seven million.
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More than 37 million people lived under the Kyiv government’s control before last week’s invasion.
Poland
More than half of those who have fled Ukraine have crossed into Poland.
UNHCR said Tuesday that 377,400 people had done so, with refugees waiting up to 60 hours to cross the border. Most arrivals are women and children from all parts of Ukraine.
Poland’s border guards said Sunday that 90 percent of those arriving were being put up by friends or relations, but that reception centres were also being set up close to the frontier.
Poland was already home to 1.5 million Ukrainians before Russia invaded.
Poles are mobilising with offers of accommodation, money, clothes and work for the new arrivals.
Hungary
Some 89,561 people have so far crossed from Ukraine into Hungary, UNHCR said.
Several border towns such as Zahony have set up public buildings as reception centres, with ordinary people donating food and clothes, the interior ministry said.
Arrivals are steady and waiting times vary, with ordinary Hungarians, local authorities and humanitarian agencies providing help.
Moldova
UNHCR said 65,391 people had fled Ukraine and were now in Moldova.
It is taking 24 hours to cover the 60 kilometres between the Ukrainian major port city of Odessa and the Moldovan border.
An airlift from Dubai is due to arrive on Wednesday bringing more emergency supplies for refugees.
Slovakia
UNHCR said 54,304 had fled across Ukraine’s shortest border to Slovakia.
“The government is maintaining an open and welcoming policy towards refugees, and has rapidly changed asylum laws to help fast-track asylum procedures,” said the agency.
Romania
The UN Refugee Agency said 38,461 people who fled were now in Romania.
There are queues of up to 20 hours to cross the border.
“Local communities are generously helping with transport and accommodation, while private companies are paying for hotels,” UNHCR said.
Many people are passing through Siret in the north, where a camp has been set up, along with a second site near Marmatiei.
Romanians have taken to social media to organise donations of food and clothing.
Belarus
More than 300 people had crossed from Ukraine into Belarus, UNHCR said.
Russia
Grandi said a number of people had moved from eastern Ukraine into Russia. UNHCR does not have figures for the numbers of people who have crossed Ukraine’s longest border, though it is thought to be significant.
Onward movement
The UN Refugee Agency on Tuesday said around 51,800 of those who had fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries had already moved onwards towards other European states.
Grandi stated that refugees would head for established Ukrainian communities in other countries, with several thousand already in the Czech Republic.
Internally displaced
Karolina Lindholm Billing, the UNHCR representative to Ukraine, estimated that a million people had been internally displaced by the Russian invasion.
She cautioned that the agency still did not have reliable figures.
