A total of 2,11,312 people have fled the fighting in Ukraine in just 12 days since the Russian invasion began on February 24. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said this represents an additional 276,000 refugees compared to Monday.
The UN considers that the flow will increase, especially in the event of the opening of humanitarian corridors that should allow civilians, in principle, to leave the large Ukrainian cities besieged by the Russian army. So far, several evacuation agreements have failed.
According to the UN, up to 4 million people could leave the country.
Before the start of the conflict, Ukraine had more than 37 million inhabitants in the territories controlled by Kiev, which does not include the Crimean peninsula – annexed by Russia in 2014 – nor the two areas in the hands of pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.
Poland has received more than half of the refugees, that is, 1 million 204 thousand 403, according to the UNHCR balance.
Before this crisis, 1.5 million Ukrainians already lived in Poland, most of them arrived to work in this member country of the European Union.
Hungary has so far hosted 191,348 refugees, a little less than 10% of the total, according to UNHCR. The country has five border posts with Ukraine and several neighboring cities, such as Zahony, have made public buildings available to accommodate Ukrainians.
The number of people who took refuge in Russia has not been updated since March 3, when it was 53,300 (3.1% of the total).
UNHCR noted that between February 18 and 23, 96,000 people crossed from the pro-Russian breakaway territories of Donetsk and Lugansk to Russia.
