Amid the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine, the United Nations (UN) migration agency on Friday said that more than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine as of March 11, since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
Compared to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) last report on March 10, an additional around 200,000 refugees have fled Ukraine.
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According to news agency AFP, UN’s IOM spokesperson Paul Dillon said that over 1.5 million refugees have fled to Poland, while around 116,000 refugees include third-country nationals.
The UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi said that approximately two million people are displaced within Ukraine as well.
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According to data shared by UNICEF, more than a million children have fled Ukraine so far with their families to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania.
Since Russia launched its ‘military operation’ on Ukraine, several countries have issued advisories to their citizens and have started evacuation processes. India has brought back over 18,000 of its nationals under “Operation Ganga”, which was launched on February 26.
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On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that all efforts are being made to evacuate people from worst-hit towns in the east-European nation’s capital Kyiv. According to Zelensky, over 35,000 civilians have used humanitarian corridors to flee Ukraine.