Ukrainian State Border Service reports updated border crossing statistics

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - The number of Ukrainian border crossings increased 6.7% from January 6 to January 12 up to 507,000 week-on-week, and the number of vehicles that crossed the border rose 11.1%, up to 100,000, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Ukrainian State Border Service's updated statistics on social media.

If before the New Year the number of border crossings to enter Ukraine for two weeks exceeded the number of crossings to leave the country by 22,000 to 24,000 weekly, then in the first week of the New Year the situation changed to the opposite: the number of crossings to leave the country exceeded the number of crossings to enter the country by 27,000, and in the second week this difference widened to 49,000.

In particular, the number of those leaving the country increased from 251,000 to 278,000 over the past week, while the number of those entering the country grew only from 224,000 to 229,000.

The number of cleared vehicles with humanitarian supplies surged to 429 from 340 a week earlier.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe at the end of last year at 5.939 million, and 6.343 million globally.

As of November 6, there were 3.674 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine itself, compared to the previous estimate of 5.088 million, the UN said. "This [significant reduction] is not due to a significant return of IDPs, but rather primarily to a change in the methodology used in calculating the number of IDPs. The new baseline population figure used to extrapolate IDP estimates now takes into account the absence of some 6.2 million refugees from Ukraine who are no longer in the country," UNHCR said.