More than 600,000 people fled Ukraine, UN says

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Up to four million refugees are expected. Millions are displaced, especially within Ukraine.

According to the UN, more than 600,000 people have fled abroad so far because of the war in Ukraine. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR put the number of refugees at more than 660,000 on Tuesday. In Geneva, the number of refugees is increasing “exponentially,” a UNHCR spokeswoman said. Most people are fleeing west to neighboring countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. The UN is bracing for up to four million refugees in total.

The UN wants to further increase its humanitarian aid in Ukraine but needs more security guarantees and money significantly to do so. “The United Nations has expanded its humanitarian presence in Ukraine. We want to continue that,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council in New York via video on Monday. Earlier, U.N. refugee commissioner Filippo Grandi said the U.N. was preparing for up to four million refugees.

Grandi said 520,000 people had already fled Ukraine for surrounding countries, including Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Russia. The U.N. commissioner said he has rarely seen such a rapid increase in the number of refugees. By Tuesday, the number had already risen to more than 660,000 people.

Poland as a destination

According to border guards, in Poland alone, more than 377,400 refugees have arrived from the neighboring country since the start of the Ukraine war. On Monday alone, 100,000 people had crossed the border, Polish border guards announced via Twitter on Tuesday. A government spokesman in Warsaw said that queues before clearance on the Ukrainian side of the border had shortened as Poland’s government and President Andrzej Duda had lobbied the Ukrainian border guard to simplify the procedure. Women and children would now be allowed through with virtually no checks.

HE SAID the UN refugee agency UNHCR would remain in Ukraine to provide people there with necessities. He said that activities are still to be expanded, even though some staff had to be relocated because of the fighting. “But we know that we are not even scratching the surface when it comes to what people need in Ukraine,” Grandi called on the international community to act quickly. “If we don’t get this done, it could be too late for all of us.”