UN: Russian invasion has uprooted 14 million Ukrainians

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven some 14 million Ukrainians from their homes in “the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades,” sparking an increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide to more than 103 million, the United Nations refugee chief said Wednesday.

Filippo Grandi, who heads the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told the UN Security Council that Ukrainians are about to face “one of the world's harshest winters in extremely difficult circumstances,” including the continuing destruction of civilian infrastructure that is “quickly making the humanitarian response look like a drop in the ocean of needs.”

Humanitarian organisations have “dramatically scaled up their response,” he said, “but much more must be done, starting with an end to this senseless war.”

But given “the likely protracted nature of the military situation,” Grandi said his agency is preparing for further population movements both inside and outside Ukraine.

In his wide-ranging briefing, Grandi told members of the UN's most powerful body that while Ukraine continues to grab headlines, his agency has responded to 37 emergencies around the world in the last 12 months arising from conflicts.

“Yet, the other crises are failing to capture the same international attention, outrage, resources, action,” he said.

Grandi pointed to the more than 850,000 Ethiopians displaced in the first half of the year, and said the recent surge in conflict in that nation's northern Tigray region has had “an even more devastating impact on civilians.”

The UN refugee agency is also in Myanmar, where the country's military rulers are facing armed resistance and an estimated 500,000 people were displaced in the first half of the year, Grandi said.

Humanitarian access remains “a huge challenge,” he said, adding that a return home remains distant for the almost one million Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh.

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