The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, blamed the “futile war” that began on February 24 for the mass exodus.
“The number of refugees from Ukraine has reached 2.5 million today, which is tragic,” he tweeted. More than half of them fled to neighboring Poland.
“We also estimate that 2 million people have been displaced within Ukraine. Millions have been forced to leave their homes as a result of this senseless war,” he added.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that the number of displaced people inside Ukraine is at least 1.85 million, while it is believed that an additional 12.65 million people have been directly affected by the conflict.
In turn, Paul Dillon, spokesman for the United Nations International Organization for Migration, wrote on Twitter, “Two and a half million people have fled Ukraine so far, including 116,000 citizens of third countries.”
UNHCR estimates that the number of people seeking to leave Ukraine will reach four million as the war continues.
But spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said it was “possible that the number of 4 million could be revised and increased.”
“We reached 2.5 million in just over two weeks, so it wouldn’t be surprising,” he told reporters in Geneva by video link from Poland, close to the Ukrainian border.
He said the accelerating influx of refugees was “certainly unprecedented since World War II” in Europe.
He stressed that UNHCR “praises the efforts of the hosts and the great solidarity shown by the people, volunteers and humanitarian organizations, who provide support in the field of accommodation, transport, food and financial and material donations.”
Prior to the Russian military operation, more than 37 million people resided in the central government-controlled Ukrainian regions of Kyiv.
More than 280,000 people who have fled Ukraine have reached other European countries, according to the United Nations.
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