More than 4.4 million Ukrainian refugees flee war, UN says

Shafaq News / The UNHCR said there were 4,441,663 Ukrainian refugees on Saturday – that was 59,347 more than the previous day.

Europe has not seen such a flood of refugees since World War II.

Ninety percent of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children, as the Ukrainian authorities do not allow men of military age to leave.

According to the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 210,000 non-Ukrainians have also fled the country, sometimes encountering difficulties returning to their home countries.

The United Nations estimates that 7.1 million people have been displaced within the country, according to figures published by the IOM on April 5.

More than 11 million people, or more than a quarter of the population, have been forced to flee their homes, cross the border into neighbouring countries or seek refuge elsewhere in Ukraine.

Before the conflict, Ukraine was home to more than 37 million people in territory controlled by Kyiv – which does not include Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, or areas in the east under the control of pro-Russian separatists.

(AFP)