More than 1 million displaced
More than 1 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Ukraine, including 814,000 Ukrainians now in Russia, the UNHCR United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Numbers displaced inside Ukraine by the fighting have nearly doubled in the past there weeks to at least 260,000, and more are fleeing, the agency said earlier at a Geneva news conference.
"It's safe to say you have over a million people now displaced as a result of the conflict, internally and externally together," Vincent Cochetel, director of the UNHCR's bureau for Europe, later told reporters. "I mean 260,000 in Ukraine - it's a low estimate - 814,000 in Russia, then you add the rest. ... Belarus, Moldova, European Union."
UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres warned of dire consequences if the spiraling crisis in eastern Ukraine is allowed to continue.
"If this crisis is not quickly stopped, it will have not only devastating humanitarian consequences, but it also has the potential to destabilize the whole region," he said in a statement.
Reuters - AFP
(China Daily 09/03/2014 page12)
