Over 1.2M people fled Ukraine amid war with Russia: UN

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Over 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched a war on the Eastern European country last week, the UN Refugee Agency said on Friday.

Data covered the period between Feb. 24 and March 2.

More than half of the total, nearly 650,000 people, crossed into neighboring Poland, according to UN figures.

Over 144,700 people fled to Hungary, while some 103,250 others entered Moldovia.

More than 90,300 people went to Slovakia, nearly 57,200 others to Romania, 53,300 to Russia, 384 to Belarus, and almost 110,900 people fled to other European countries.

“An additional 96,000 people moved to the Russian Federation from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions between 18 and 23 February,” the UN agency said.

“As the situation continues to unfold, an estimated 4 million people may flee Ukraine in the coming weeks and months,” it added.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has been met with international outrage, with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

In the second round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv on Thursday, the two sides agreed on creating humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.