Launched on February 24 by the Russian army, the offensive in Ukraine has caused the displacement of several hundred thousand inhabitants. Poland and Hungary alone host more than half of the refugees.
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In less than six days, the war in Ukraine has already displaced more than a million people inside the country, while another 660,000 civilians have flocked to neighboring countries. This was announced by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday, March 1. Most of these refugees have fled to neighboring Poland and Hungary, according to data released by UNHCR on 28 February. Franceinfo lists on this map the movements of the Ukrainian population fleeing Russian troops.
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In detail, Poland has already received 281,300 refugees, Hungary 93,938, Moldova 38,388, Romania 34,361 and Slovakia 30,000. According to UNHCR, just over 300 people have taken refuge in Belarus, an allied country of Moscow from which the Russian army launched its offensive last week. To date, the number of Ukrainian refugees in France is not known, but 40,759 civilians have reached a destination other than the border states listed above.
In addition to those who fled the country, the UN highlights the one million people displaced inside Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion. “There has been a lot of attention on those fleeing to neighboring countries, but it is important to remember that most of those affected are in Ukraine”said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR’s head of Ukraine.
“We do not yet have a firm figure on the number of internally displaced people in Ukraine, but we estimate that one million people have fled inside the country or are currently on a train, a bus or a car to try to get to safety”she added during an online press conference organized by the Swedish government on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
Less than a week after the start of the war, I‘Agency ofs United Nations for refugees endeavors to strengthen its assistance inside the country to respond to the “immeasurable humanitarian need”supported the spokesperson, citing in particular the need to house or feed the displaced.