1.5M people fled Ukraine since war began: UN refugee head

Ukrainian civilians who came to Poland due to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine are seen at a train station in Krakow, Poland on March 02, 2022 [Adria Salido – Anadolu Agency]

More than 1.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries since the war began on Feb. 24, the top UN refugee official said on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

“More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days — the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II,” Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, wrote on Twitter.

The number is rising steadily, up from 1.2 million as of Friday.

According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) figures, as of March 5, at least 351 civilians have been killed and 707 others injured in Ukraine since Russia launched the war on its neighbour.

Among the 351 killed were 41 women and 22 children, according to the UN.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, Britain, and US, among others, implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

READ: Syria opposition slams West’s “double standards” over response to Ukraine war

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.