Number of people who fled Ukraine due to war rises to 1.7 million

In just 11 days, more than 1.7 million people had to flee Ukraine because of the war that began with the invasion of Russian forces on the 24th.

According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, “this is now the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War”.

“In the coming days, millions more lives will be uprooted unless there is an immediate end to this senseless conflict,” the agency’s official profile posted on Twitter.

The German Interior Ministry told CNN, on Sunday (6), that nearly 38,000 people have arrived in the country of Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.

The German Federal Police had registered 37,786 refugees from the war-torn country as of Sunday, an Interior Ministry spokesman told CNN.

However, given the absence of border checks between Poland and Germany, the actual number of people arriving could be significantly higher, the ministry said.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that Germany will welcome refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, regardless of their nationality.

“We want to save lives. It does not depend on the passport,” Faeser told the German newspaper.

“It is a scene that we have already seen happen in the country. We’ve been at the station for a week and there’s an escalation of urgency, because you’re seeing that the northern and western parts of the city are increasingly affected,” Ward said.

“People are more afraid because the Russians are getting closer, also coming from the south, which means the city is surrounded. They are desperate to get out as soon as possible. It’s terrible to see fear in people’s eyes,” she added.

The train Ward accompanied was bound for the Ukrainian city of Lviv, further east in Ukraine and close to the Polish border, where refugees have been evacuated most often.

Earlier on Sunday (6), heavy shelling was reported west and northwest of Kiev. The impact of the blasts was heard by CNN crews in Kiev and rural areas to the southwest.

Source: CNN Brasil

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