[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] It has been reported that nearly 4 million refugees have fled abroad since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On the 28th (local time), the Associated Press cited the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) under the UN, reporting that the number of Ukrainian refugees who fled abroad after the outbreak of the war reached 3.87 million. This is three times the number of Syrian refugees, which has exceeded 1.3 million after 11 years of civil war.
However, the recent number of refugees has sharply decreased. During four days out of the past five days, the number of refugees was below 50,000, which is only about 25% compared to over 200,000 people fleeing on the 6th and 7th of this month.
The majority of refugees appear to have fled Ukraine within four weeks after the outbreak. In the two weeks following the start of Russia's invasion, 2.5 million people out of Ukraine's 44 million population crossed the border. In the subsequent two weeks, the number of refugees remained at about half of the previous two weeks.
UNHCR stated that the Ukraine war has caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Alex Munt, UNHCR's emergency coordinator in Poland, said, "However, until a political solution to this war is found, a decrease in refugees cannot be guaranteed."
IOM estimates that there are an additional 6.5 million people within Ukraine who have lost their homes and may attempt to flee abroad at any time, while about 12 million remain in place either because the fighting is intense or because they do not want to leave.
There are also predictions that the number of refugees from the Ukraine war could reach 8 million. Anna Mihalska, spokesperson for the Polish Border Guard, said, "Most of those who left Ukraine are residents of areas heavily affected by fighting. Whether residents of other areas become refugees will depend on future combat situations, so a sudden increase in refugees cannot be ruled out."
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