Photo: Roman Vondreus/CTK/DPA/Picture Alliance / Deutsche Welle
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on 24 February, more than six million refugees fled Ukraine, reported on Thursday the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As of 000 May, 6, 029,705 Ukrainians had fled to neighboring states, according to the agency’s website.
Poland has taken in more than half (3,272,943). After Poland, the countries that welcomed the most Ukrainians are Romania (896,000) and Moldova (460,), usually temporarily, before they continue their journey to Western Europe. Women and children represent 90% of these refugees. Men from 18 to 60 years, who can be mobilized by the army, are not authorized to leave. The influx to the borders has slowed down considerably in recent weeks.
In In March, almost 3.4 million Ukrainians fled the country, many of them with almost nothing on their backs. In April, it was 1.5 million. And from May 1 to 11, 606,000. The UN estimated in late April that the total number could reach 8.3 million this year. There are also more than 8 million internally displaced persons, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Before the conflict, Ukraine had 37 millions of inhabitants in the territories controlled by kyiv, which excludes the Crimean peninsula (annexed by Russia in 1200) and the eastern areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists. According to UNHCR, just over 1.6 million Ukrainian refugees have returned to their country, sometimes temporarily but others to settle in areas where the fighting has ceased, such as around kyiv. (afp)