Refugees fleeing Ukraine could reach four million in ‘next few days’

Ukraine’s refugee situation is “unprecedented” with fears the number of people fleeing the Russian invasion could reach four million within days.

Highlighting the scale of the humanitarian crisis, Western officials said the number of people attempting to cross the borders “is something we haven’t seen, certainly since the end of the Second World War”.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, created 6.6 million refugees – the largest for decades.

The Western officials also said some refugees fleeing were turning up with frostbite due to the cold weather while some coming from areas that have been targeted by Russia were “traumatised”.

It comes as the Kremlin continues to wage war on the Eastern European country and faces accusations of war crimes following the horrific bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol – a city which faces heavy shelling.

Russian troops have encircled the port city and cut off essential supplies, with more than 1,000 people killed by “continuous shelling” and 47 buried in a mass grave on Wednesday alone, Ukraine says.

Last night the UNHCR briefed Western officials, informing them that the number of refugees fleeing the war was now estimated to be around 2.2 million.

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“But they are worried we could see four million over the next few days,” an official said. “These are unprecedented movements of people in Europe, or indeed probably anywhere else in the world.”

“I would like to stress the sheer scale of this, which is something that we haven’t seen, certainly since the end of the Second World War, and that is a real challenge to us all.”

Many have fled to neighbouring Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia while crowds of people have also be seen waiting outside UK visa application centres in an attempt to reunite with British-based relatives.

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One official said: “What we’re seeing is with the refugees now and the IDPs (internally displaced persons), you’re getting simple things like frostbite because people are walking.

“You’re getting things like women who can’t get access to maternal healthcare, you’re getting people needing mental health support because they’ve just come from areas that have been targeted and bombed. So, the needs are going to keep shifting.”

The official said there was a “change in the profile” of refugees turning up at the borders of neighbouring countries, adding: “The first wave of refugees were very quickly moving on because these were people with resources, they had contacts elsewhere, so they came and they moved.

“In the second wave we were starting to see these people who are very traumatised, they left without any resources, they are very vulnerable and they need more direct support.”

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.