GENEVA, March 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, the UN said, warning that millions more would have their lives upended if the nearly month-long war continues.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 3,626,546 Ukrainians had fled the country — an increase of 69,301 from the previous day’s figure.
In total, more than 10 million people — over a quarter of the population in regions under government control before the February 24 invasion — are now thought to have fled their homes, including an estimated 6.48 million who are
internally displaced.
The refugee crisis is Europe’s worst since World War II, according to UNHCR.
“Millions more will have their lives upended if the war persists,” the UN’s International Organization for Migration warned.
Women and children account for some 90 percent of those who have fled the country as Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military call-up and cannot leave.
More than 1.5 million of those who have fled abroad are children, according to UNICEF, the UN children’s agency.
An additional 186,000 people from third countries had fled Ukraine, according to IOM.
Before the invasion, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east.
Here is a breakdown of which neighbouring countries Ukrainian refugees have headed to, according to UNHCR: Poland (2,144,244), Romania (555,021), Moldova (371,104), Hungary (324,397), Russia (271,254), Slovakia (256,838) and Belarus (4,938).
In addition, 113,000 people had crossed into Russia from the separatist-held pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine between February 21 and 23. — NNN-AGENCIES
