The situation in Ukraine remains dire and the number of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion could potentially reach 1.5 million by the end of the weekend, the head of the UN refugee agency said on Saturday.
"This is the fastest moving refugee crisis we have seen in Europe since the end of World War Two," UNHCR head Filippo Grandi told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Grandi also said most refugees at the moment were linking up with friends, family and other connections already living in Europe, but warned future waves would be more complex.
Earlier on Saturday, the International Organization for Migration said the number of people who have left Ukraine since fighting began has now reached 1.45 million.
The UN migration agency, citing figures from government ministries in countries where they have arrived, said Saturday that 787,300 of them went to Poland.
Some 228,700 fled to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia, according to The Associated Press.
The IOM said that nationals of 138 countries have crossed Ukraine’s borders into neighboring nations.
Earlier on Saturday, the Russian military said will observe a ceasefire in two areas of Ukraine starting Saturday to allow civilians to evacuate, Russian state media reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry statement carried by the RIA Novosti and Tass agencies said it has agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces to allow civilians to leave the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern town of Volnovakha “from 10 a.m. Moscow time.”
It was not immediately clear from the vaguely worded statement how long the routes would remain open.
The head of Ukraine’s security council, Oleksiy Danilov, had called on Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the elderly to escape the fighting, calling such corridors “question No. 1.”
