Some 100,000 people in 24 hours have joined the ranks of refugees who fled the fighting in Ukraine, more than two weeks after the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the latest UN count published on Sunday.
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The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) listed exactly 2,698,280 refugees from Ukraine on its dedicated website around 11:00 GMT. These are 100,733 more than during the previous tally.
Europe had not seen such a rapid influx of refugees since the Second World War, according to the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
Four million people could want to leave the country to escape the war, according to the first forecasts of the UN, a figure which should certainly be revised upwards, according to the UNHCR.
Before this conflict, Ukraine was populated by more than 37 million people in the territories controlled by Kyiv – which therefore does not include the Crimea annexed by Russia, nor the areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Poland alone hosts more than half of all refugees who have fled since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Since February 24, 1,655,503 people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine have entered Poland, according to the UNHCR.
Polish border guards estimate that 1,675,000 people have entered Poland since the start of the invasion, according to figures released on Sunday.
Before this crisis, Poland was already home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians who came, for the most part, to work in this member country of the European Union.
Hungary hosts 246,206 people, according to UNHCR figures as of March 12, or about 10,000 more than during the count the day before.
The country has five border posts with Ukraine and several border towns, such as Zahony, have converted public buildings into relief centers, where Hungarian civilians come to offer food or assistance.
Slovakia has counted 195,980 people who have fled Ukraine, according to the updated UNHCR update on March 12, ie there too nearly 10,000 more.
The number of people who have found refuge in Russia stands at nearly 106,000 as of March 10.
UNHCR also notes that between February 18 and 23, 96,000 people crossed from the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk into Russia.
After their arrival in Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million inhabitants and one of the poorest in Europe, some of the refugees continue their journey to Romania or Hungary, often to find family.
According to the UNHCR count, 104,929 refugees from Ukraine were registered in the country as of March 10.
UNHCR has not updated its statistics for Romania. The UN refugee agency counted nearly 85,000 refugees as of March 8. As with Moldova, many refugees decide to move on once they are safe.
Since February 24, 365,000 people have entered and just over 280,000 left, Romanian authorities detailed on Friday.
The UNHCR also specified that a little more than 304,000 people had continued on their way, once the Ukrainian border had been crossed, towards other European countries, according to figures stopped on March 11.