This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The UN refugee agency says that the number of Ukrainians who have fled their country since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion has now surpassed 5 million in what is Europe’s largest influx of refugees since World War II.
According to data published by the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) on April 20, 5,034,439 Ukrainians have left the country because of the war, launched by Russia on February 24.
The UN said 90 percent of those who have fled are women and children, as the authorities in Kyiv have not allowed men of military age to leave the country.
The UN said on April 5 that about 7.1 million people have been displaced within Ukraine because of the war.
Poland, which has taken in an estimated 2.8 million refugees, was the main destination for those crossing the border. Another EU member, Romania, has seen the second-largest influx of Ukrainian refugees — just over 757,000. In both cases, some of the refugees have traveled onward to other destinations.
Another neighbor of Ukraine, EU member Hungary, has so far received some 471,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest nations, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, has seen an influx of more than 426,000 Ukrainians since February 24.
Slovakia, which shares a border of less than 100 kilometers with Ukraine, received some 342,000 refugees, while a much smaller number of Ukrainians — under 24,000 — crossed the border into Belarus, Russia’s main ally.
