EU expects over 7 million Ukrainians to be displaced

BRUSSELS • A European Union executive said on Sunday that Europe was facing its biggest humanitarian crisis in many years following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the number of Ukrainians displaced by the strife could be more than seven million.

"We are witnessing what could become the largest humanitarian crisis on our European continent in many, many years. The needs are growing as we speak," said Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

"So for the humanitarian situation overall, the currently expected number of displaced Ukrainians is over seven million," he told a news conference in Brussels after a special meeting of EU member states' interior ministers to discuss the crisis.

The United Nations said yesterday that over half a million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion five days ago, with more than half fleeing into Poland. The figure does not include those internally displaced.

"More than 500,000 refugees have now fled from Ukraine into neighbouring countries," UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said in a tweet.

According to an earlier count by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, more than 280,000 people fled Ukraine into Poland alone.

Nearly 85,000 crossed into Hungary, more than 36,000 into Moldova, over 32,500 into Romania, 30,000 into Slovakia and over 300 into Belarus, UNHCR said.

Many of those leaving Ukraine were moving onwards towards other European countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Sunday called for a safe corridor through Poland to deliver critical medical aid to Ukraine and warned that hospital oxygen supplies in the country were dangerously low.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Europe regional director Hans Kluge said oxygen supplies were "nearing a very dangerous point" and that most hospitals could exhaust their reserves within the next 24 hours, putting thousands of lives at risk.

WHO is working to deliver oxygen cylinders and liquid from regional networks, they said, adding that the supplies would need "safe transit, including via a logistics corridor through Poland". "It is imperative to ensure that life-saving medical supplies - including oxygen - reach those who need them," they said in a joint statement.

The disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prevented trucks from transporting oxygen from plants to hospitals, which have also suffered power shortages. Medical oxygen generator manufacturers are also facing a shortage of zeolite, a mainly imported chemical product essential for producing medical oxygen.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE