55 Ukrainian Children Are Becoming Refugees Every Minute Due To War: Here's What UNICEF Said
The ongoing war in Ukraine which is just days away from completing three weeks has uprooted millions of civilians from their homes.
Hundreds of thousands are desperately trying to flee besieged cities in Ukraine as the bombardment and shelling of residential areas show no signs of slowing down.
More than three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, nearly half of them minors, with a child becoming a refugee every second, the UN said.
On average, every day in Ukraine from the start of the war, more than 75,000 children have become refugees.
"We have now reached the three-million mark in terms of movement of people out of Ukraine," Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the United Nations migration agency (IOM), told reporters.
Less than three weeks into the invasion, "three million lives uprooted. Three million women, children and vulnerable people separated from their loved ones," IOM chief Antonio Vitorino said in a tweet.
"We need an immediate cessation of hostilities."
2.97 mn refugees to date
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, meanwhile put the total number of refugees to date at 2.97 million.
"This refugee crisis is in terms of speed and scale, unprecedented since the Second World War, and is showing no signs of slowing down.?
Like all children driven from their homes by war and conflict, Ukrainian children arriving in neighbouring countries are at significant risk of family separation, violence, sexual exploitation, and trafficking.?
They are in desperate need of safety, stability and child protection services, especially those who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families," the UN agency said.
Out of the nearly 3 million people who have fled the war-ravaged country so far more than half of them, 1.8 million, have fled to Poland.
Other countries bordering Ukraine, including Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova have also seen a large influx of refugees, fleeing war.
A significant number of refugees are starting to move further west, with 300,000 individuals having gone so far to Western Europe, the UNHCR said on Tuesday.
"We would like to go back home as soon as the war ends and when there's peace,'' Ludmila Deslichenko, who traveled from Cherkasy in central Ukraine to Poland said.
"It was very terrifying. There were bombs during the day, also rockets, everywhere in Ukraine. There were a lot of explosions. As soon as it calms down and the war is over, we will go back.''
Oksana Voloshen, said she crossed the border to buy groceries to bring back to Mostyska in far western Ukraine.
"We have nothing in the shops,'' she said.
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