UN: 500,000+ refugees have escaped Ukraine amid Russian invasion

According to multiple sources within the United Nations, including this tweet from High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi, more than 500,000 refugees have escaped Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. According to a UNHCR spokeswoman, most of those refugees have ended up in Poland (281,000), Hungary (84,500), Moldova (36,400), Romania (32,500) and Slovakia (30,000). The rest are scattered in unidentified other countries.

“We would stress that those figures have been rising hour by hour and day by day, so we can expect those to keep rising throughout the course of the day,” Matthew Saltmarsh, the head of news and media at the UNHCR, said Monday. “There’s obviously a lot of congestion, and it’s very difficult to get across the borders, so the people arriving are exhausted. Many of them have travelled for many hours, if not days, to get there.”

The UN’s estimate of refugees leaving Ukraine comes a day after the European Union (EU) predicted as many of 7 million Ukrainians could be displaced due to the Russian invasion. The EU’s commissioner for crisis management said those 7 million could “find themselves in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.”

“We are witnessing what could become the largest humanitarian crisis on our European continent in many, many years. The needs, the humanitarian needs are growing as we speak,” Janez Lenarcic said Sunday. “One priority should therefore be, the assistance to people affected by this war. I have urged the ministers today that we will have stronger impact if we do this together.”

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson urged the EU’s interior ministers to trigger a special protection mechanism to help deal with influxes of refugees. The mechanism was set up in the wake of the wars in former Yugoslavia and Kosovo but has yet to be used. It provides residence permits, as well as the possibility of jobs, accommodation, social welfare, medical treatment and education for children.

“It is those countries in Europe that are leading this response… the UNHCR and our UN partners are supporting them and we’re ready to help more if needed,” Saltmarsh said. “Putting people up, giving them a roof over their heads, making sure they’ve got food, warm clothes because of course, it’s cold, water and medical attention, if it’s needed.”