Tens of thousands of Ukrainians still fleeing war: UN

A total of 5,133,747 Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia invaded on February 24, the UN refugee agency said on Friday.

The figure marks an increase of 48,387 from Thursday’s data, the UNHCR said.

Some 1,098,000 Ukrainians have left the country during April so far, compared to 3.4 million for all of March.

Women and children make up 90 percent of those who fled abroad, and men aged 18 to 60 who are eligible for military service are not allowed to leave.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said another 218,000 third-country nationals, mostly students and migrant workers, have also fled to neighboring countries.

Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates that 7.7 million people are displaced within Ukraine.

Before the invasion, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in government-controlled regions, excluding Russian-annexed Crimea and pro-Russian separatist-controlled regions in the east.

Meanwhile, 1.1 million Ukrainians have returned to their country since the war began.

Here is a breakdown of how many Ukrainian refugees have fled to neighboring countries, according to UNHCR:

– Poland –
Almost six out of 10 Ukrainian refugees, 2,867,241 so far, have crossed into Poland.

Many of them have traveled to other states in Europe’s Schengen open borders zone.

Meanwhile, more than 800,000 people crossed from Poland into Ukraine, Polish border guards said.

Before the war, Poland was home to around 1.5 million Ukrainians, mainly migrant workers.

– Romania –
A total of 769,616 Ukrainians entered the EU member state, including a large number who crossed from Moldova, wedged between Romania and Ukraine.

The vast majority are believed to have gone to other countries.

– Russia –
Another 578,255 refugees have sought refuge in Russia.

In addition, 105,000 people crossed into Russia from the separatist-controlled pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine between February 18 and 23.

– Hungary –
A total of 480,974 Ukrainians have entered Hungary.

– Moldova –
The border with Moldova is the closest to the main port city of Odessa. As of Wednesday, a total of 430,170 Ukrainians had crossed into the non-EU state, one of the poorest in Europe. Most have moved on.

– Slovakia –
A total of 349,286 people crossed the shorter border from Ukraine into Slovakia.

– Belarus –
Another 23,900 refugees have arrived north, to Russia’s close ally, Belarus.