The number of Ukrainian citizens fleeing the fighting in their country may eventually top 4 million people, or nearly one-tenth of the population, according to new estimates this week from the United Nations’ top refugee agency.
Already, some 1.2 million Ukrainians have crossed the border into Poland, Hungary, Moldova and other countries in the region in a little more than a week since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a major invasion of the country on Feb. 24, according to U.N. figures released Friday.
Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, head of global communications for the Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, called the outflow “phenomenal” and noted that there was also a huge number of internal refugees inside Ukraine who have been driven from their homes by fierce fighting in the country’s east and south.
“We know there are many more on the move,” Ms. Ghedini-Williams said, according to a report by the Agence France-Presse news agency.
UNICEF, another U.N. body, has said that about half of the refugees leaving the country are children.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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