The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has reached 2 million, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grady, said on Tuesday.
It represents the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
Grandi added that a second wave of refugees from Ukraine is likely to be more vulnerable than the first wave,
“If the war continues, we will start to see people who do not have the resources and connections,” he told a news conference in Olso.
“This will be a more complicated situation for European countries to manage in the future,” he said, adding that “even more solidarity” will be needed in Europe and beyond.
On Tuesday, corridors were opened that allow the safe evacuation of civilians from several cities in Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced.
Where are the refugees going?
About 1.2 million refugees from Ukraine have already fled to Poland, including 141,500 on Monday alone, the Polish border guard said on Tuesday.
Japan has said it plans to accept refugees from Ukraine and has so far allowed eight people to enter the country, the government said in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Ukrainian refugees will need long-term humanitarian assistance
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) told DW that the consequences of the war in Ukraine would require long-term humanitarian solutions to support the large influx of refugees.
“Even if the war were to end now, there would be a huge humanitarian need so much inside Ukraine that people would want to leave to find safety,” Nancy Dent, Senior Global Communications Officer for IRC, told DW.
“It’s not a situation that is going to be fixed any time soon.”
He added: “We need people to have guaranteed access to jobs, to be able to rent houses, to make sure they can really get back on their feet.”
Aside from the physical support, “the injury support they will need is also enormous,” Dent said.
fh / rt (Reuters, AFP)
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