Over 68 thousand people have fled to Turkey from Ukraine

* Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo - Ukraine / Anadolu Agency (AA)

Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which broke out with Russia's invasion of its neighbor on February 24, over 4.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine and taken refuge in neighboring countries.

According to a recent statement by Philippe Leclerc, a representative from the Turkey office of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 68 thousand people have fled to Turkey in this period.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) at a recent event in Turkey's central Konya province, Philippe Leclerc said that the UNHCR is dealing with the "ever-rising number of refugees" all over the world.

Today, there are more than 30 million refugees, and 90 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the globe, Leclerc reportedly said.

Those fleeing war and persecution need "protection, permits to stay, schooling for their children, and medical assistance," the Leclerc said, adding that "they also need to learn skills to become self-reliant".

Saying that more than "68 thousand Ukrainians have arrived in Turkey since the outbreak of the war" on February 24, Leclerc said that the number of refugees is increasing every day due to the ongoing war.

Refugees from Ukraine

According to the UNHCR data updated on April 6, 4,310,600 people have so far fled Ukraine and taken refuge in other countries.

Citing the government sources as of April 6, the UNHCR has announced the number of refugees received by countries as follows:

• Poland - 2,514,504 refugees
• Romania - 654,825 refugees
• Republic of Moldova - 401,704 refugees
• Hungary - 404,021 refugees
• Slovakia - 302,417 refugees
• Belarus - 17,317 refugees

Moreover, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 7,1 million have been internally displaced.

What happened?

Earlier on February 24, explosions were reported in several Ukrainian provinces, including the capital Kyiv, after Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' in the Donbas region.

Tensions had started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine. They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, which was consistently rejected by Moscow.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states in late February, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on February 24.

President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people "subjected to genocide" by Kyiv and to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which started on February 24 with the invasion of Russia has drawn international condemnation, led to financial restrictions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

At least 1,563 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,213 have been injured, according to estimates by the United Nations (UN), which has cautioned that the true figure is likely far higher. More than 34.3 million Ukrainians have also fled to several European countries, with millions more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency. (SD)