UN increases its estimate of IDPs in Ukraine to 7.7 million

KYIV. April 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The number of internally displaced people (IDP) in Ukraine has reached 7.7 million as of April 21, having grown from 854,000 recorded as of February 24, the United Nations Refugee Agency said.

The agency estimated the number of IDPs at 7.1 million on April 6.

Over 5 million refugees have left Ukraine now, which makes this refugee crisis the fastest-growing one since WWII, and 7.7 million other people have been internally displaced within Ukraine, the agency said in a statement on its website.

Citing UNICEF and WASH partners, the UN Refugee Agency said 1.4 million people currently have no access to water in eastern Ukraine and 4.6 million other people around the country might lose such access.

According to the UN Refugee Agency's data as of 1:00 p.m. April 22, a total of 5.16 million people left Ukraine since February 24, with 2.88 million having crossed into Poland, nearly 839,000 Romania and Moldova, over 578,000 Russia, nearly 486,000 Hungary, over 352,000 Slovakia, and nearly 24,000 Belarus.

The UN Refugee Agency also reported citing Ukrainian State Border Service data as of April 22 that 1.12 million people have entered Ukraine since February 28, bringing the overall number of refugees to about 4 million.