World News | UN Refugee Agency: Nearly 120,000 Ukrainians Have Fled
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The UN refugee agency said on Saturday that nearly 120,000 people have so far fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries in the wake of Russian invasion.
Warsaw, Feb 26 (AP) The UN refugee agency said on Saturday that nearly 120,000 people have so far fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries in the wake of Russian invasion.
The number was going up fast as Ukrainians grabbed their belongings and rushed to escape from a deadly Russian onslaught on their nation, including an attempt to take the capital.
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“Almost 116,000 have crossed international borders as of right now. This may go up, it's changing every minute,” said Shabia Mantoo, the spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“It's very fluid and changing by the hour."
The agency expects up to 4 million Ukrainians could flee if the situation deteriorates further.
Mantoo said most were heading to neighbouring Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, and even some into Belarus — from which some Russian forces entered Ukraine.
She did not immediately have details on numbers by country, but by far the largest numbers were arriving in Poland, where some 2 million Ukrainians have already settled to work in recent years, driven away by Russia's first incursions into Ukraine in 2014 and seeking opportunities in the booming economy of the European Union neighbour.
Poland's government said Saturday morning that more than 100,000 Ukrainians had crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border in the past 48 hours.
At the Medyka border crossing, a line of vehicles waiting to enter Poland stretched 15 kilometers (9 miles) into Ukraine, according to people crossing the border, Polish broadcaster TVN24 reported. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)