Number of people leaving Ukraine via western borders exceeds number of entries for 3rd week in a row - Border Service

MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) - The number of people who left Ukraine through its western borders from October 22 to 28 increased by about 9,000 to reach 265,000 compared to the previous week, while the number of people entering Ukraine increased by about 2,000 to 245,000 in this period, Ukrainian media reported with reference to the State Border Service's information available on social media.

Hence, that week was the third in a row during which the number of people leaving the country exceeded the number of those entering it, this time around by about 20,000 compared to 11,000-13,000 over the previous two weeks.

The number of cars that crossed the border increased to 136,000 from 129,000, while the number of vehicles cleared to carry humanitarian aid decreased to 524 from 531 in this period.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency information as of October 25, a total of 14.592 million people departed Ukraine over the time of the crisis, with 7.114 million of these having crossed into Poland, 2.852 million Russia (as of October 3), 1.629 million Hungary, 1.426 million Romania, some 888,400 Slovakia, over 670,000 Moldova, and about 16,700 Belarus.

At the same time, according to the UN, 7.144 million people entered Ukraine between February 28 and October 25, exclusive of those who arrived from Hungary, Russia, and Belarus.