At least half of the 677,000 refugees from the Russian invasion of Ukraine are children

The war in Ukraine has not taken a week to trigger a serious humanitarian crisis that has led to a massive exodus of the population to safer territories. In the last 24 hours, another 150,000 Ukrainians have fled a country devastated by the Russian war, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who added: “It could become the biggest refugee crisis of this century in Europe“. Right now, the number of exiles in other countries exceeds 677,000.

The situation is more terrible than it seems: as UNICEF has informed laSexta, at least half of those more than 677,000 people who have fled, at least half are minors who are already experiencing the horror of a conflict of these features in such a short time. This is the case of children like Mark Goncharuk, who managed to save his life thanks to the help of a team from Reuters. His father was not with him: “He has stayed in Kiev. He will sell things and help our heroes, our Army, and he might even fight.

The Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, has expressed her concern about the situation faced by children and their families in Ukraine, which “it gets worse every minute” while the conflict intensifies and attacks on the civilian population increase. “Infrastructure damage has left hundreds of thousands of people without drinking water or electricity. Explosive weapons and war residues in populated areas are real and present dangers,” Russell lamented, in statements collected by the agency itself.

According to some testimonies, the officials who are currently operating at the Ukrainian border controls they are giving priority to ukrainian children, as well as women and the elderly. In addition, there are already other countries that, aware of this situation, have moved to give preferential treatment to the smallest in this crisis. To facilitate the entry of refugees, the Polish government – which expects the arrival of a million refugees – has decided that women and children can pass practically without passport control.

For his part, in Austria, which does not have a border with Ukraine, the federal chancellor, Karl Nehammer, has assured that his country will “proactively” welcome Ukrainian refugees, sespecially women and children and other vulnerable people. According to data confirmed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least thirteen minors have already died in Ukraine and it is feared that this figure may increase, as the clashes continue in the country. Likewise, many children have also been injured and many others are “deeply traumatized by the violence around them”.

Hundreds of thousands are now out of school, putting the country’s 7.5 million children at risk of face “greater risk”. In this context, UNICEF has stressed that both the organization and its partners work “24 hours a day” to meet humanitarian needs, “which are increasing rapidly and include emergency medical services, essential medicines, supplies and health equipment , drinking water and hygiene, and shelter and protection for people displaced from their homes”.