Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians are fleeing the country

Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have now fled the country following Russia’s invasion, the United Nations said Monday, praising neighbouring countries for showing overwhelming compassion towards their “extreme plight”.

More than 10 million people -- over a quarter of the population in regions under government control -- are now thought to have fled their homes, including the millions of internally displaced people. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 3,489,644 Ukrainians had fled the country since Russia invaded on February 24 -- a figure up 100,600 on Sunday’s update.

“As if to counter the despair, we have also witnessed overwhelming acts of welcome and compassion as neighbouring countries, particularly local responders, have opened their hearts and homes to Ukrainians. “Millions around the world were rightly moved by the extreme plight of the Ukrainian people,” he said, citing their “pain and sorrow... UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, said more than 1.5 million children are among those who have fled abroad.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 186,000 people from third countries had fled Ukraine to neighbouring states. As of Wednesday, some 6.48 million people were estimated to be internally displaced within Ukraine, according to UN and related agencies, following an IOM representative survey.