In less than a week of Russia’s war against Ukraine, well over 600 000 people have fled Ukraine, the United Nations said.
In a press release earlier this week, the UN stated that the refugee numbers were growing fast. «As you know the numbers are exponentially increasing, we have now over 660,000 refugees who have fled Ukraine in last six days alone,» said UN refugee agency’s spokesperson Shabia Mantoo.
«At this rate, the situation looks set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century and UN refugee agency is mobilising resources to respond as quickly and as effectively as possible.»
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Echoing that message, UN migration agency’s spokesperson Safa Msehli, noted that there were also an estimated «470,000 third-country nationals in Ukraine», including a large number of overseas students and migrants working in the country.
Many remain stranded inside Ukraine, although at least 6,000 third-country nationals have arrived in Moldova and Slovakia alone, Msehli said, according to the press release.