UN says 285,000 displaced in Ukraine crisis

Kiev, Aug 6: At least 285,000 people have fled Ukraine's restive areas as of early August, up 55,000 from the number of mid-July, according to a UN report.

Among the affected population are people who have been displaced from southern Crimean peninsula, Lugansk and Donetsk regions in the eastern part of the country, according to the document released Tuesday by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Xinhua reported.

Every day, around 1,000 people are leaving the conflict areas and 117,000 refugees have found shelters in calm Ukrainian regions since the turmoil in the eastern European country began in February, it said.

Meanwhile, about 168,000 asylum seekers crossed the border into Russia and requested to obtain refugee status there, the report said.

According to another UN report, at least 1,129 people have been killed and 3,442 others wounded in the Ukraine crisis as of July 26.

IANS