More than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees left Ukraine in the first 48 hours of Russian invasion, the United Nations said as it warned of an escalating refugee crisis with Moscow’s offensive entering the third day. In a tweet, UN chief Antonio Guterres feared that the numbers could be as high as 100,000. “Humanitarian needs in Ukraine are multiplying by the hour. Civilians are dying. At least 100,000 Ukrainians have already reportedly fled their homes (sic),” he wrote.
“Unless the fighting subsides, tens of thousands of families could be forcibly displaced, dramatically escalating humanitarian needs,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell had said on Thursday as Russia began a full-scale attack by land, water and sea. The UNICEF chief expressed concern for the “lives and wellbeing” of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children.
A majority of refugees haven moved to Poland and Moldova, according to the UN officials. “The situation is absolutely heatbreaking. Thousands and thousands of refugees have entered Moldova in the last 36 hours. Women and children are coming in large numbers,” a UN representive is heard saying in a video, adding that Moldovan authorities were allowing people to enter without passports if they could share any form of identification. “Local communities came to help the refugees, feeding them and supporting them,” he added.
“There are no winners in war, but countless lives will be torn apart,” Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement on Russia offensive on Thursday.
Russia on Friday vetoed a resolution to call back its troops and halt the attack. The inevitable move to block the resolution can’t absolve the Kremlin from accountability, the US had said in sharp comments. Ukraine Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya asserted that he would not dignify the “diabolical script” read by the Russian Ambassador, which was in fact “a rather detailed application for… a seat in Hell.”
“The @UN was born out of war to end war. Today, that objective was not achieved. But we must never give up. We must give peace another chance,” the UN chief tweeted.
Ukraine is fearing threat to Kviv with gunshots and artillery fire reported in the outskirts of the capital city on Saturday morning. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a late-night video address called for the citizens to defend the capital.