World: The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) says over five million people of Ukraine have been forced to escape their homeland in less than two months since the beginning of the Russian invasion, forming an unprecedented refugee crisis.
On Wednesday, the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said around 5.01 million Ukrainian residents had fled the country due to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
The figure of 5 million is a new and “staggering” milestone in Europe’s one of the biggest refugee crises since WWII as the attack intensifies in the eastern Donbas region.
A few weeks ago, when the refugee number reached four million, the UNHCR said it had exceeded the worst-case predictions.
“In less than two months, we have seen around a quarter of Ukraine’s population, over 12 million individuals in total, including five million refugees, but also 7.1 million displaced inside the country, have been forced to escape their homes, so this is a staggering amount of people,” UNHCR spokeswoman in Geneva, Shabia Mantoo, told a news agency.
Having escaped to neighbouring nations, they are met with hospitality and encouraged to continue their active life. According to the UNHCR data, half of the refugees from Ukraine are children.
In Poland, where over 2.8 million people of Ukraine have reached, they have been provided Polish ID numbers, the PESEL, which entitles them to do work, access to free healthcare services, schooling and bonuses for children.
