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Ukrainian refugees rise above 1.5m as Russian invasion enters day 11 —Defence ministry

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Ukrainian refugees rise above 1.5m as Russian invasion enters day 11 —Defence ministry

The Ukrainian authorities on Sunday, said the number of its people who have become refugees as the Russian invasion of the country enters the 11th day, is well above 1.5 million.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence said as Russia continues its attack 11 days after invading Ukraine and Kyiv, many Ukrainians have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries where they have become refugees.

Though another round of talks has been tentatively planned for Monday, more and more Ukrainians have continued to escape into neighboring Poland, Romania, Slovakia and elsewhere, the Ministry said.

However, in a televised address on Saturday night, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on people in areas occupied by Russian troops to go on the offensive and fight, while vowing to rebuild the nation.

“We must go outside and drive this evil out of our cities. My confidence in this is reinforced by the energy of our resistance, our protest,” Zelenskyy said.

Read also: Putin warns US, others against imposition of no-fly zone over Ukraine

In its newsletter on Saturday night, the World Health Organization said 249 civilians had been killed so far and 553 injured as of March 3.

It had put the number of refugees at 1.2 million and said another 160,000 people had been internally displaced.

“The human cost is likely much higher as access and security challenges make it difficult to verify the actual number of deaths and injuries,” the WHO said in the statement.

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