As Russias invasion of Ukraine enters its 20th day, the number of refugees has surpassed 3 million, Reuters reported on the 15th, citing a report by the United Nations International Migration Agency. About half of them are children, Reuters said, with one child displaced every second.
A Ukrainian child searches for something in a pile of donated items at a refugee shelter near the Polish border crossing in Medica, Poland, on the 10th.
According to Reuters, the United Nations International Migration Agency recorded more than 3 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled the country since the Russian invasion on the 24th of last month. Nearly half of the more than 3 million refugees, or about 1.4 million, are said to be children.
IOM spokesperson Paul Dylan said the figures were aggregating figures provided by authorities in the relevant countries, including about 157,000 third-country nationals. UNICEF spokeswoman James Elder said: “In the past 20 days, on average, more than 70,000 children are displaced every day in Ukraine, which is almost one per second.”
“This crisis is unprecedented in speed and scale since World War II,” he said. He said child refugees arriving at the border are exposed to crimes such as separated families, violence, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. “They desperately need safety and protection,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office said that 636 civilians, including 46 children, were killed between 4:00 am on the 24th and 00:00 on the 14th. The number of injured people is said to be 1,125, including 62 children.
