[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] On the 1st, the New York Times (NYT) reported, citing United Nations data, that more than 660,000 people fled Ukraine within five days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of last month (local time). The NYT explained that this is the fastest large-scale population movement in the past 30 years.
Since Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are subject to conscription and prohibited from leaving the country, the majority of the refugees were found to be women and children. The number does not include those who moved within Ukraine or residents who evacuated from the eastern Donbas region to Russia.
Nevertheless, the NYT explained that this number is at least ten times the refugees who entered Europe in one week during the Syrian civil war in 2015, and about twice the refugees counted by the UN in the first 11 days after the outbreak of the Kosovo war in 1999.
The UK’s The Times reported that this is "the largest scale since World War II, when 12 million refugees were generated."
As refugees flood in, those trying to cross Ukraine’s western borders into Poland, Moldova, Hungary, and other countries face waiting in line at border checkpoints for up to 24 hours.
Moldovan authorities said they had prepared refugee response plans months ago, but 70,000 people entered in five days, double the expected number.
The United Nations estimated that the number of refugees from this crisis could reach 4 million. There are also views that if Russia’s invasion continues and Ukrainians continue to flee at the current pace, the UN’s projections could be exceeded.
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