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Fastest growing crisis since WW-II, says UNHCR as Ukraine war leaves 1.5mn seeking shelter
Ukraine-Russia war: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said it was the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the World War II. The numbers were only rising as Russian shelling battered more Ukrainian cities and towns.
As a record 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine crossed over to neighbouring countries seeking shelter in a span of 10 days, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi termed the crisis the fastest growing one in Europe since the Second World War.
In a tweet, Grandi wrote, “More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days — the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.”
The numbers were only rising as Russian shelling continued to batter Ukrainian cities and towns.
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According to data available with Poland’s border guards, as many as 1,29,000 people crossed over on Saturday, the most in a single day since the war started, bringing the total to 9,22,400.
A spokeswoman of the Polish Border Guard said forecasts indicated the number of people who entered Poland from Ukraine from February 24 would exceed a million by the end of the day.
At the Medyka crossing, the busiest along Poland's roughly 500-km (310-mile) border with Ukraine, refugees streamed past boxes of clothes laid out along a path from the border crossing while Scouts handed out hot tea, food and toiletries.
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Some carried babies, others dogs and cats wrapped in blankets. Many joined a queue for buses to the nearby town Przemysl where friends, relatives and volunteers waited to take them to other cities in Poland and beyond.
Kyiv pressed the West to toughen sanctions and deliver more weapons to repel Russia's attack.
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Ukrainian police said there was relentless Russian shelling and air raids in the northeast Kharkiv region, reporting many casualties, while the World Health Organisation said there had been several attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities.
"In Kyiv, there are many bombs and you sit in the basement and still hear it and because of that I left this city," said Anna Klimova, 21, who was travelling to Wroclaw to stay with her brother. "It's a really hard situation."
