At Least 2.5 Mln Ukrainian Refugees Flee Home, UNHCR Says

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that at least 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have left their homes, and fled to the neighboring countries since the beginning of the Russian military operations in Ukraine.

Filippo Grandi, the commissioner the UNHCR said: "Millions forced to leave their homes by this senseless war."

The organization added that at least one million children were among the estimated numbers of refugees.

In the same context, the International Organization for Migration said that 1.5 million of the fled citizens went to Poland, while the rest moved to Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Last month, the UNHCR previously announced that “The scale and scope of displacement will only likely become apparent in the coming days and weeks, Ukrainian authorities estimate that as many as 5 million people could flee the country, triggering a refugee crisis that will test response capacities in neighbouring countries.”

The report also expressed: “Significant infrastructural damage has left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity or water, while bridges and roads damaged by shelling have left communities cut off from markets for food and other basic supplies.”

In the same context, at least 64 civilians have been killed and more than 160,000 are on the move after Russian troops entered Ukraine this week, a United Nations relief agency said, according to Reuters.

“As of 5:00 p.m. on 26 February, (UN human rights office) OHCHR reports at least 240 civilian casualties, including at least 64 dead,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a status report,