Geneva, March 30, LETA – AFP. In less than five weeks since Russia began the war in Ukraine, more than four million Ukrainians have fled, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filipo Grandi said on Wednesday.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 4,019,287 people have fled Ukraine, more than 2.3 million of whom have fled to Poland.
“I have just arrived in Ukraine. In Lviv, I will talk to officials, the UN and other partners about ways to increase our support for the people affected and forced to flee their homes by this senseless war,” Grandi wrote on Twitter.
The number of refugees has exceeded the UNHCR’s initial estimate that up to four million people could flee Ukraine as a whole due to the war.
The Agency acknowledges that Europe has not seen the speed and scale of such people fleeing their homes since World War II.
90% of Ukrainian refugees are women and children. Men aged 18-60 can be mobilized in Ukraine and must not leave the country.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration has stated that almost 200,000 non-Ukrainians who have lived, studied and worked in Ukraine have left the country.
A study by the organization found that by March 16, 6.48 million people had sought refuge elsewhere in Ukraine.
“They urgently need help to save lives,” the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday, adding that it is stepping up its efforts to prevent human trafficking.
Prior to Russia’s war on February 24, 37 million people lived in areas controlled by the Ukrainian government.
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