Oslo – AFP
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, expected on Tuesday that the number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine would exceed two million within 48 hours.
“I think we’re going to cross the two million mark today or, at the latest, tomorrow,” Grandi said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated the number of refugees from Ukraine as of Monday at more than 1.7 million.
Grandi made his remarks during a news conference following visiting Moldova, Poland and Romania, all of which have taken in refugees who have streamed across the border from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24.
He praised these three countries for welcoming refugees, adding that they seem to be dealing well with the distribution of refugees “naturally and spontaneously.”
He stressed that the first batches of refugees included people who “have some resources.”
“It is possible that if the war continues, we will see people who have no resources or networks, and it will be a more complex issue for European countries to move forward, and there will be a need for more solidarity from everyone in Europe and elsewhere,” he said.
Grandi noted that the Balkan wars in Bosnia and Kosovo saw the flight of “regarding two million to three million people, but over a period of eight years.”
He stressed that while other regions of the world witnessed a situation similar to what is happening in Ukraine in terms of a wave of asylum, “this is the first time that this has happened in Europe since the Second World War.”
