One million people have fled Ukraine in just one week amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
In a statement made on Thursday, Grandi said that he had rarely seen “an exodus as rapid as this one” in his nearly 40 years of working experience in refugee emergencies.
Noting that more people are fleeing the country “hour by hour, minute by minute,” and that countless numbers of people have been displaced in Ukraine,
Grandi warned that millions more are likely to be forced to leave unless the parties can immediately end the conflict.
The need for humanitarian aid is huge in Ukraine, so staff of the UKHCR and other humanitarian organisations have chosen to stay in the country despite the frightening situation and great risks, Grandi said in the statement.
He called for peace at the end of his statement, saying that peace is “the only way to halt this tragedy”.
