Nearly 8 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion just less than a year ago, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator of Ukraine, Martin Griffiths, announced on Monday.
Speaking at the UN Security Council in New York, the UN official said that 8 million people had fled to neighbouring countries, while another 5.3 million had been internally displaced since the start of the conflict.
Every refugee from Ukraine is welcome in Germany. We have currently taken in over 1 million refugees from Ukraine. All of them get full work permission and full health insurance. And over 200,000 Ukrainian children are currently attending German schools. pic.twitter.com/RcdHbZ0jnW
— German Embassy (@GermanyinUSA) December 28, 2022
This meant that 17.6 million, or roughly 40% of the Ukrainian population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looking set to drag on, Griffiths stated his intention to present a Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine sometime this year, which would mobilise $3.9 billion in aid.
Related News
- World heading 'eyes wide open' into further conflict, says UN Secretary-General
- Ukrainian President Zelenskyy rumoured to visit Brussels on Thursday
According to UN statistics, more than 7,000 civilians have been killed since Russian troops violated Ukraine’s borders on 24 February 2022. It is likely that the true statistic is much higher, as the UN is not able to verify all citizen casualties.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the largest movement of refugees since the start of the Second World War, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says.
