About 730,000 people have left Ukraine for Russia this year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, UNHCR’s European director Vincent Cochetel said on Tuesday.
That figure implies a far higher exodus than the 168,000 who have fled and applied to Russia’s Migration Service. A further 117,000 people are displaced inside Ukraine, a number that is growing by about 1,200 per day, he said.
UNHCR stripped out the seasonal figures and numbers for people who would normally have crossed the border in the course of trade or tourism to arrive at the 730,000 figure, Cochetel told a UN news briefing.
