‘FASTEST GROWING CRISIS’ | Since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, more than 1.5 million refugees had fled Ukraine to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, and Slovakia, making it Europe’s “fastest-growing refugee crisis” since World War II, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. (Agence France-Presse)
LVIV/KYIV, Ukraine — The number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has topped 1.5 million, making it Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II, the United Nations said on Sunday.
“More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighboring countries in 10 days,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted.
The United Nations described the outflow as “the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II,” having reported on Saturday that nearly 1.37 million refugees had fled.
UN officials said they expected the wave to intensify further as the Russian army pressed its offensive, particularly toward the capital Kyiv. The UN refugee agency estimated the number of refugees could swell to 4 million by July.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also said that signs of attacks on health centers in Ukraine were increasing, which it said amounts to a violation of medical neutrality and international humanitarian law.
The WHO said 249 civilians had been killed and 553 were injured as of Thursday. But it added that the toll was likely much higher.
Ukrainian negotiators said the third round of talks with Russia on a ceasefire would go ahead today (Monday), although Moscow was less definitive.
In a televised address on Saturday night, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on people in areas occupied by Russian troops to fight.
British military intelligence said on Sunday that Russian forces were targeting populated areas in Ukraine.
Targeting civilian areas
Russia has repeatedly denied that it was targeting civilian areas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched what he called a “special military operation” on Feb. 24, reiterated that he wanted a neutral Ukraine that had been “demilitarized” and “denazified,” and likened Western sanctions “to a declaration of war,” adding: “Thank God it has not come to that.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ukraine-Poland border, said he expected new sanctions and weapons for Ukraine in the coming days.
The United States said it would give Ukraine more weapons and has repeatedly warned it could escalate sanctions, with US President Joe Biden seeking $10 billion in emergency funding to respond to the crisis.
Zelenskyy called again for more lethal aid, a ban on Russian oil, a no-fly zone, and an end to Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. privileges in Russia, US media reported.
Visa and Mastercard later said they would suspend credit card operations in Russia, the latest in a dramatic series of corporate pullbacks over the invasion.
Seeking to mediate, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday and later spoke to Zelenskyy.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expected to talk with Putin on Sunday. Turkey, a Nato member, shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea.
Russia was warning the European Union and Nato again to stop the “pumping of state-of-the-art weapons systems” into Kyiv, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, according to RIA.
Fierce fighting
Russian media cited an unidentified source on Sunday as saying that Ukraine was close to building a plutonium-based “dirty bomb” nuclear weapon, although the source cited no evidence.
Russia’s defense ministry said its forces were carrying out a wide-ranging offensive in Ukraine and had taken several towns and villages, Russian news agency Interfax said.
They also struck and disabled Ukraine’s Starokostiantyniv military air base with long-range high-precision weapons, it added.
The Ukrainian armed forces said on Sunday they were conducting a number of defensive operations, including in the eastern part of the Donetsk District, in Slobozhansky and the city of Chernihiv.
A series of blasts were heard overnight in Kharkiv, the second-largest city, Ukrainian media reported.
Ukraine’s military said it had shot down 88 Russian aircraft and helicopters so far and captured some pilots. Reuters could not corroborate the claim.
The WHO also confirmed “several” attacks on health-care centers in Ukraine and is investigating others, the agency’s chief said on Sunday.
“Attacks on health-care facilities or workers breach medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian law,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added in a Twitter message.
In Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian forces and shelled for days, the situation was grim.
“We can’t collect all the bodies on the street,” Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told CNN, saying it was impossible to count civilian deaths there.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was rushing more emergency supplies to Ukraine as many hospitals were facing shortages.
RELATED STORIES
Civilians stranded as Mariupol evacuation fails again
US sees ‘very credible reports’ of attacks on civilians in Ukraine
Kyiv digs in for battle as fighting flares in areas nearby