(Geneva) More than 4.6 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, according to UNHCR figures on Tuesday.
Posted at 7:42
The High Commissioner for Refugees listed exactly 4,615,830 refugees. These are 68,095 more than in the previous tally on Monday.
The new arrivals “are in a more vulnerable state, have less means and are also less well prepared in terms of where they want to go”, compared to people who fled in the first weeks of the conflict, explained a UNHCR spokesman Matt Saltmarsh at a UN briefing in Geneva.
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, as the Ukrainian authorities do not allow the departure of men of military age.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 210,000 non-Ukrainians have also fled Ukraine, sometimes encountering difficulties in returning to their country of origin.
The UN also estimates the number of internally displaced people at 7.1 million, according to IOM figures released on 5 April.
In total, therefore, almost 12 million people, more than a quarter of the population, 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 control pro-Russian separatists since the same year.
Poland
Poland hosts by far the largest number of refugees.
Since February 24, 2,645,877 of them have entered Poland as of April 11, according to the UNHCR. Polish customs officials counted 2,681,000 people.
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, 701,741 people had traveled to Romania as of April 11, many of whom arrived via Moldova before continuing on to other countries.
Moldova
According to the UNHCR, 413,374 Ukrainians entered Moldova, a small country of 2.6 million inhabitants among the poorest in Europe, but also the closest to the Ukrainian port of Odessa.
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 taken in 428,954 Ukrainians as of April 11, according to the UNHCR.
Slovakia
A total of 320,246 people had arrived from Ukraine since the start of the war, according to UNHCR figures dated April 11.
Russia
The number of refugees in Russia stood at 433,083 as of April 9.
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 11, Belarus had taken in 21,292 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.