U.N. human rights experts said Thursday they are alarmed that nearly 12.8 million people have been displaced in Ukraine since Russia launched its war in late February, most of whom have not left the country.
They issued a call for urgent action to protect internally displaced people in Ukraine.
“According to the most recent estimates, 7.7 million people are internally displaced as a result of the conflict, which is equivalent to 17.5% of the entire population,” said the experts in a joint statement.
“These people have had to leave their homes and everything behind in a desperate attempt to escape death and destruction. They are traumatized and need urgent protection, including psychosocial support.”
The U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says that since Feb. 24, when Russia launched its war on its neighbor, 5,707,967 people have fled the country.
More than 3.1 million of those fleeing have gone to Poland and over 854,000 to Romania, more than half a million to Hungary, almost half a million to Moldova, and nearly 400,000 to Slovakia.
Of those fleeing, more than 714,000 have gone to or through Russia.
“This conflict has been causing extreme human suffering, with thousands of civilians killed and injured, and countless others living through daily bombardment and violence,” said the experts.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said Thursday that 3,280 civilians have been killed and 3,451 injured since the start of the war, but the “actual figures are considerably higher.”
The experts said homes, schools, hospitals, care institutions and entire cities were destroyed.
