(Geneva) More than 4.24 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, according to figures from the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Posted at 8:47 a.m.
The UNHCR registered exactly 4,244,595 Ukrainian refugees on Monday. These are 38,646 more than during the previous score on Sunday.
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.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration said around 205,500 non-Ukrainians had also fled the country and were sometimes having difficulty returning to their country of origin.
The UN estimates the number of internally displaced people at 7.1 million, according to new figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released on Tuesday. That’s about 600,000 more than when last counted around mid-March.
“People continue to flee their homes because of war and the humanitarian needs on the ground continue to grow,” said IOM Director General Antonio Vitorino.
In total, therefore, more than 11 million people, or more than a quarter of the population, have had to leave their homes either by crossing the border to find refuge in 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 control pro-Russian separatists since the same year.
According to UNICEF, more than half of the country’s 7.5 million children are either internally displaced or refugees.
Poland
Poland hosts by far the largest number of refugees.
Since February 24, 2,469,657 of them have entered Poland, according to UNHCR. And according to UNICEF, about half are children.
According to statements by the Deputy Minister of the Interior, 1.5 million of them remain in Poland. Among them, 600,000 have already obtained the national identification number (PESEL).
This number is widely used in relations with Polish public institutions, health services, to obtain a telephone number, access to certain banking services, etc.
Romania-
According to the UN refugee agency, 648,410 people had traveled to Romania as of April 4.
Moldova
According to the UNHCR, 396,448 Ukrainians have entered Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million inhabitants.
The European Commission encourages Ukrainian refugees to move on to settle in an EU country that is better able to bear the financial burden.
Hungary
Hungary had welcomed 394,728 Ukrainians as of April 4, according to the UNHCR.
Slovakia
As of April 3, a total of 301,405 people had arrived from Ukraine since the start of the war, according to UNHCR.
Russia-
The number of refugees in Russia stands at nearly 350,632 as of March 29, the latest figure available.
UNHCR also notes that between February 21 and 23, 113,000 people crossed from the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk (eastern Ukraine) to Russia.
Belarus
As of April 3, Belarus had taken in 16,274 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.