The UN refugee agency says one million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, in the swiftest exodus of refugees this century. The tally from UNHCR amounts to more than 2% of Ukraine’s population of 44 million on the move in under a week.
The announcement comes as Russian forces lay siege to two strategic Ukrainian ports and press their bombardment of the country’s second-biggest city, while the huge armoured column threatening Kyiv appears to be stalled outside the capital. Moscow’s isolation has deepened, though, with most of the world lined up against it at the United Nations to demand withdrawal from Ukraine.
UNHCR has predicted up to four million people could eventually leave Ukraine but cautioned even that projection could be revised upward. In an email, UNHCR spokesperson Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams wrote: “Our data indicates we passed the 1M mark” as of midnight in central Europe (11pm London), based on counts collected by national authorities.
