2 million refugees fleeing Ukraine, UN says

March 08, 2022, 04:47 PM
by AP/UNB

UNB News
Publish- March 08, 2022, 04:47 PM
AP/UNB

2 million refugees fleeing Ukraine, UN says

A mother and her child, fleeing Ukraine, wait to board a bus at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Poland, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has set off the largest mass migration in Europe in decades, with more than 1.5 million people having crossed from Ukraine into neighboring countries. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine reached 2 million on Tuesday, according to the United Nations, the fastest exodus Europe has seen since World War II.

“Today the outflow of refugees from Ukraine reaches two million people. Two million,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on Twitter.

The update came as a new effort to evacuate civilians along safe corridors finally got underway Tuesday. The route out of the eastern city of Sumy was one of five promised by the Russians to offer civilians a way to escape the Russian onslaught.

Women and children, fleeing from Ukraine, arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Poland, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has set off the largest mass migration in Europe in decades, with more than 1.5 million people having crossed from Ukraine into neighboring countries. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, is pressing for all civilians trapped by fighting in Ukraine to be allowed to leave safely. She said Tuesday she is “deeply concerned about civilians trapped in active hostilities in numerous areas.”

Bachelet also told the U.N. Human Rights Council that her office has received reports of pro-Ukrainian activists being arbitrarily detained in areas of eastern Ukraine that have recently come “under the control of armed groups.” She said there have been reports of beatings of people considered pro-Russian in government-controlled areas.