More than 660,000 people have fled the conflict in Ukraine to seek refuge in neighboring countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
“We now have more than 660,000 refugees who fled from Ukraine to neighboring countries in the last six days”spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva. “At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century,” she added.
Ukraine has borders with seven countries, Russia to the north and east, Belarus to the north, Poland and Slovakia to the west, and Romania, Hungary, and Moldova to the southwest.
~660,000 refugees have now fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the last 6 days.
The situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century, and we have reinforced our operations to respond as quickly and effectively as possible.https://t.co/CeRsXpf8Wb
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) March 1, 2022
All neighboring countries have so far kept their borders open to refugees fleeing Ukraine, of whom a certain number have gone to Russia, Mantoo stressed.
“UNHCR calls on governments to continue to maintain access to the territory for all those fleeing – Ukrainians and citizens of other countries living in Ukraine,” he declared.
Ecuadorians sleep several days in shelters on the Ukrainian border with Poland and others return to nearby cities
The UN agency also estimated on Tuesday that the conflict in Ukraine has left a million people displaced within the borders.
“There is a lot of attention around those fleeing to neighboring countries, but it is important to remember that most of the affected people are in Ukraine,” Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR’s country manager for Ukraine, told a news conference in Stockholm. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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