The number of citizens fleeing Ukraine increased to 1.7 million on Sunday (6 March), almost 4 per cent of the total population. This was reported by the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency UNHCR on Monday (7 March).
Over one million of the refugees are being accommodated in neighbouring country Poland. Other refugees are arriving in Hungary (over 180,000) and Slovakia (almost 130,000), as well as Moldova, Belarus and Russia. The German Ministry of the Interior reports that over 50,000 refugees have arrived in Germany. The ministry also indicated that the number of refugees could be "considerably higher" as there are no border restrictions within the European Union.
On Sunday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, spoke of "the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II". The EU said that a total of potentially four million people will flee Ukraine, and that it is welcoming those refugees "with open arms".
