United Nations: 8 million Ukrainians remain refugees in Europe

Dec. 12 (UPI) — More than 8 million Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Poland during the months-long invasion by Russia, but nearly 6 million have crossed the border back into Ukraine, according to an updated report by the United Nations released Monday.

The U.N. report said there are currently 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees spread throughout Europe. Officials said 4.8 million of those have filed for temporary protection or similar national protection help.

The report said that more than 16 million have left Ukraine at one time or another.

“The escalation of the international armed conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance,” the report said.

“Millions of refugees from Ukraine have crossed borders into neighboring countries and many more have been forced to move inside the country. They are in need of protection and support.”

While Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, has seen the most traffic leaving Ukraine and those returning to the country, Hungary (1.8 million) and Romania (1.6 million) have also seen more than one million Ukrainians flee their homes. Slovakia has taken in just under one million (985,347).

Germany has taken in 1.021 million to lead countries without adjacent borders with Ukraine with refugees.

Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister said Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have left millions of Ukrainians without reliable power and heat as winter sets in. He said Russia has damaged all of the country’s thermal and hydroelectric power plants, forcing the country to use rolling blackouts to keep water, central heating and cellphone service running.

“After eight waves of missile attacks on the country, all thermal and hydroelectric power stations are damaged,” Shmyhal said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said it will take days to restore power in the Odesa region after Russian drone strikes left more than 1.5 million people in that region without power.