The Price of Putin’s War Against Ukraine: 8.3 Million People Will Leave

The United Nations predicts that as many as 8.3 million Ukrainians will leave the country as a result of the Russian invasion, with many never returning. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, previously predicted that a total of 4 million people would flee Ukraine, but that figure surpassed 5 million by the end of April.

In April, the UNHCR called on international charitable organizations and governments to assist the many millions more Ukrainians fleeing the country as a result of the war.

During a press conference in Geneva, UN spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said that the Regional Refugee Response Plan would provide security, education, food, and other basic needs to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country for Europe, the United States, and beyond.

“Launching an updated Regional Refugee Response Planv (RRRP) for the Ukraine situation yesterday, UNHCR and partners are seeking US$1.85 billion to support a projected 8.3 million refugees in neighbouring countries, namely Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, as well as other countries in the region, including Belarus, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic,” Mantoo said.

With millions of Ukrainians already living abroad, thousands more are fleeing towns and rural areas of eastern Ukraine, where Russian soldiers have made substantial gains in recent weeks.

Even as more advanced weapons head to Ukraine from NATO countries, Russian forces have made gains in the Donbas region through carpet bombing campaigns in residential areas. Thousands of Ukrainians have been forced to flee to central Ukraine and surrounding countries as Russian troops push past the city of Severodonetsk.

Quite how many have been forced out of their homes or died during Russian attacks may not be known until the conflict comes to an end. The United Nations continues to provide updates, however, with the latest data revealing that 6.6 million refugees have left the country in the last three months.

As of May 24, the United Nations says that over 3.5 million refugees now reside in Poland, over 970,000 in Romania, 945,000 in Russia, and 650,000 in Hungar. Almost half a million refugees fled to Moldova in the east and over 440,000 in Slovakia. The latest data also shows that 27,308 refugees were present in Belarus as of May 12.

However, with Russian troops all but gone from Kyiv and central Ukraine, some citizens have begun returning to the country in the hope that the invasion will soon come to an end – with reports revealing how the queues to return home in neighboring countries now stretch for miles.

Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

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