More than 2 million have fled Ukraine war as refugees: UN

[GENEVA] More than two million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion less than two weeks ago, the United Nations said Tuesday.

"Today the outflow of refugees from Ukraine reaches two million people," UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in a tweet.

Since February 24, 2,011,312 people have fled the war-ravaged country into neighbouring countries, said the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Poland alone has received nearly half of all those fleeing Ukraine, with Tuesday's figures showing that 1.2 million had crossed into the country in the past 13 days.

Hungary meanwhile has taken in nearly 191,350 people, Slovakia 140,745 and Russia itself has seen 99,300 people cross over from Ukraine, the data showed.

Moldova and Romania had each received over 82,000 refugees each, according to data gathered on Sunday, while over 210,000 people who have fled into neighbouring countries have already moved on to other European nations, UNHCR found.

On Sunday, Grandi said the war in Ukraine was fuelling Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.

"It doesn't stop," he told a press conference in Oslo earlier on Tuesday following a visit to Moldova, Poland and Romania.

For comparison, Grandi said the Balkan wars in Bosnia and Kosovo saw "maybe two to three million people, but over a period of eight years." While other parts of the "world have seen this," Grandi added, "in Europe it's the first time since the Second World War," he reiterated.

After several failed attempts, Russia promised to open humanitarian corridors on Tuesday to allow civilians to flee the Ukrainian cities that have come under artillery fire. AFP