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More than 6.2 million people are now estimated to be displaced within Ukraine due to Russia’s invasion, having fled their homes but stayed inside the country, the UN said Tuesday. News Online

This is in addition to the 5.26 million people who have fled Ukraine and been registered as refugees in other European countries since the war began.

As of June 23, there were an estimated 6.275 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine, the United Nations’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

That marks the lowest number of IDPs recorded by the IOM since the Russian invasion on February 24.

The UN agency, which has carried out six surveys since February, said the IDP number peaked at an estimated eight million in the fourth survey published on May 3.

The latest survey found that 5.55 million people who initially fled — whether within Ukraine or abroad — had now returned to their homes.

Ukraine's refugees in News Online & World News — Refugees wait in a crowd for transportation after fleeing from the Ukraine and arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Monday, March 7, 2022. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians attempting to flee to safety Sunday were forced to shelter from Russian shelling that pummeled cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

“The most pressing needs of both displaced and non-displaced persons include access to health services and education, as well as (the) rehabilitation of damaged homes,” the IOM said.

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Sixty-five percent of current IDPs are estimated to be women.

Some 61 percent of all IDPs (3.8 million) are from the east of Ukraine, where the fighting is currently concentrated. Fifteen percent are from the north, while 11 percent each coming from Kyiv and from the south.

The biggest displacement flows are of people from the east moving to other places in the east, and to a lesser extent to central and western Ukraine.

Perception of safety –

Some 44 percent of IDPs are living in rented dwellings, while 29 percent are staying with family or friends.

Thirteen percent said they felt completely safe where they were, while 63 percent said they felt somewhat safe.

“Among IDPs, 15 percent indicated that they plan to return to their places of habitual residence within the upcoming two weeks,” the survey said.

The survey found that almost one in four people in Ukraine had to stop using their medication during the war because it was either unavailable or too expensive.

It also determined that 20 percent of displaced households included children aged one to four, 51 percent included elderly members and 36 percent had people with chronic illnesses.

Only 12 percent of returnees are considering leaving their homes again, it said.

The IOM conducted its sixth survey between June 17 and 23, interviewing by telephone 2,000 anonymous respondents aged over 18 and chosen at random.

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