(Geneva) More than 4.7 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country 50 days after the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, according to figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted at 8:28
UNHCR counted exactly 4,736,471 refugees on Thursday. These are 79,962 more than during the previous tally on Wednesday.
Europe has not seen such a flood of refugees since the Second World War.
Some 90% of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children, the Ukrainian authorities not allowing the departure of men of military age.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 215,000 non-Ukrainians have also fled Ukraine, sometimes encountering difficulties in returning to their country of origin.
The IOM also estimates the number of internally displaced persons at 7.1 million.
In total, therefore, more than 12 million people have had to leave their homes either by crossing the border to reach neighboring countries, or by finding refuge elsewhere in Ukraine.
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 (south) annexed in 2014 by Russia nor the eastern areas under the control of the pro-Russian separatists since the same year.
Poland
Poland hosts by far the largest number of refugees.
Since February 24, 2,694,090 of them have entered Poland as of April 12, according to the UNHCR.
Many of them then travel to other European countries.
Poland had about 1.5 million Ukrainian immigrant workers before the war.
Romania
According to the UN refugee agency, 716,797 people had traveled to Romania as of April 13, many of whom arrived via Moldova before continuing on to other countries.
Russia
The number of refugees in Russia stood at 471,014 as of April 13.
UNHCR also notes that between February 18 and 23, 105,000 people crossed from the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk (eastern Ukraine) to Russia.
Hungary
Hungary had taken in 440,387 Ukrainians as of April 13, according to the UNHCR.
Moldova
According to the UNHCR, 417,650 Ukrainians entered Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million inhabitants among the poorest in Europe.
The European Commission encourages Ukrainian refugees to move on to settle in an EU country that is better able to bear the financial burden.
Slovakia
A total of 326,244 people had arrived from Ukraine since the start of the war, according to UNHCR figures dated 13 April.
Belarus
As of April 13, Belarus had taken in 22,428 people.
Method
The UNHCR specifies that for the countries bordering Ukraine which are part of the Schengen area (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), the figures presented by the High Commission count those who have crossed the border and entered the country. The UNHCR estimates that “a large number of people have continued on their way to other countries”.
In addition, the organization indicates that it does not count people from neighboring countries who leave Ukraine to return home.