{"id":47934,"date":"2022-03-30T17:24:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T17:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47934"},"modified":"2022-03-30T17:24:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T17:24:56","slug":"tragic-milestone-more-than-four-million-ukrainians-flee-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47934","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Tragic milestone\u2019: More than four million Ukrainians flee war"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some 4,019,287 Ukrainians have fled the country\u2019s borders, surpassing the worst-case United Nations estimate as Russia\u2019s invasion continues.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published On 30 Mar 2022<\/span>30 Mar 2022<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than four million Ukrainians have fled the country within five weeks to escape Russia\u2019s \u201csenseless war\u201d, the United Nations has said, as shelling continued in places where Moscow had pledged to ease its military activities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The speed and scale of the exodus is unprecedented in Europe since World War II, and has seen a wave of empathy extended to the women, children and elderly men who have made it across the border.<\/p>\n

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agency said on Wednesday that 4,019,287 Ukrainians had fled across the country\u2019s borders since the February 24 invasion, with more than 2.3 million going west into Poland.<\/p>\n

The number exceeds the worst-case predictions made at the start of the war. UNHCR\u2019s initial estimate stated that the war could eventually create up to four million refugees.<\/p>\n

\u201cRefugees from Ukraine are now four million, five weeks after the start of the Russian attack,\u201d UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have just arrived in Ukraine. In Lviv I will discuss with the authorities, the UN and other partners ways to increase our support to people affected and displaced by this senseless war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the development, Alex Mundt, the UNHCR senior emergency coordinator in Poland, said: \u201cI think it\u2019s a tragic milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that in less than a month or in just about a month, four million people have been uprooted from their homes, from their families, their communities, in what is the fastest exodus of refugees moving in recent history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Refugees from Ukraine are now 4 million, five weeks after the start of the Russian attack.<\/p>\n

I have just arrived in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

In Lviv I will discuss with the authorities, the UN and other partners ways to increase our support to people affected and displaced by this senseless war.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) March 30, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have fled. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military call-up and not permitted to leave.<\/p>\n

United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) says more than half of the country\u2019s estimated 7.5 million children have been displaced: 2.5 million internally and 1.8 million abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is encouraging to see the outpouring of support offered to refugees by Ukraine\u2019s neighbours and other countries,\u201d said UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE<\/img><\/p>\n

But she urged destination countries \u201cto provide particular protection to women and children, many of whom face risks of human trafficking, including sexual and labour exploitation\u201d.<\/p>\n

In total, more than a quarter of the Ukrainian population living in government-controlled areas before the invasion have been forced to flee their homes, with an estimated 6.5 million uprooted people still within the country\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

Besides the Ukrainians who have fled, another 200,000 non-Ukrainians who were living, working or studying in the country have managed to escape.<\/p>\n