A million Ukrainians fled country in a week, says UN on Russia invasion

By Team Newsable | First Published Mar 3, 2022, 10:13 AM IST

Less than a week ago, since Russia's invasion, 1 million people have fled Ukraine, according to the UN refugee agency.

The United Nations refugee agency has stated that one million people have fled Ukraine in less than a week due to Russia's invasion of the country, a mass exodus unprecedented in this century for its pace.

More than 2 per cent of Ukraine's population has been forced to flee in less than a week, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). At the end of 2020, the World Bank calculated Ukraine's population at 44 million.

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The UN agency has estimated that up to 4 million people may leave Ukraine in the future. However, the agency has cautioned that even that figure might be revised upward.

In an email, Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, the UNHCR spokeswoman, wrote, "Our data indicates we passed the 1M mark" as of midnight in central Europe, based on national authority counts. Ghedini-Williams stated that the data portal figures indicated a count until midafternoon in Europe. However, the agency had received estimates of further arrivals for the rest of the day and into the nighttime.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, tweeted and shared that he has witnessed the exodus of nearly one million refugees from Ukraine to neighbouring countries in just seven days. Grandi called for the "guns to fall silent" in Ukraine so that humanitarian aid could reach the millions of people who remain trapped within the country.

Syria's civil war began in 2011 continues to have the highest refugee outflows, with more than 5.6 million people fleeing the country, according to UNHCR estimates. Even at the fastest rate of departure by refugees out of Syria, it took at least three months for one million refugees to escape the country in early 2013.

As per UNHCR spokesman Shabia Mantoo, Ukraine might become the source of "the worst refugee crisis this century" if outflows continue with this current rate.

So far, UN officials and others have praised Ukraine's neighbours' response, including the opening of homes, gymnasiums, and other facilities to accommodate the incoming refugees.

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