How many Ukrainians have fled their homes and where have they gone?

More than 14 million people are thought to have fled their homes since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations (UN) says.

More than six million have left for neighbouring countries, while eight million people are displaced inside the war-torn country itself.

People are still crossing to neighbouring countries, especially those to the west.

The UN says that as of 24 May: 6.6 million refugees have left Ukraine:

(Some people who travelled from Moldova into Romania are included in both countries’ totals).

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have no border controls with other parts of the EU’s Schengen area. Many refugees who first arrived in these countries have since moved on to others.

The Czech Republic has granted more than 350,000 emergency visas to Ukrainian refugees.

And more than 700,000 Ukrainians are in Germany, 40% of whom are children.

Some Ukrainians have travelled to Russia from the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in the east.

President Vladimir Putin says his forces helped evacuate 140,000 civilians from Mariupol but insists no one was forced to go to Russia.

However, volunteer groups such as Rubikus and Helping to Leave say they have helped hundreds of Ukrainians who ended up in Russia to travel onto other countries.

The EU has granted Ukrainians the right to stay and work throughout its 27 member nations for up to three years.

Refugees are housed in reception centres if they can’t stay with friends or relatives. They are given food and medical care, and information about onward travel.

They are entitled to social welfare payments and access to housing, medical treatment and schools.

Poland, which has taken the highest number of refugees, and Moldova, which has the largest concentration of refugees by population, have both asked for international support to help fund their efforts.

The UN says that as of 24 May, 2.1 million Ukrainians have returned to Ukraine. Ukraine’s border force says people are crossing back into the country at a rate of about 30,000 a day.

Some are returning to areas of Ukraine such as the capital Kyiv, which were threatened by Russian army advances at the start of the war, but are now considered safer.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, says the city’s population is back to two-thirds of its pre-war level.

The UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said at the start of May that more than eight million people were internally displaced.

The IOM said:

It estimates that more than half of the people who are internally displaced are women. Many are particularly vulnerable because they are pregnant, have a disability or are a victim of violence.

The UN is working alongside other organisations to provide cash, food and other supplies.

The UK introduced a family visa scheme for Ukrainians who have an immediate or extended family member in the UK.

After the government response was criticised, it launched the Homes for Ukraine scheme to allow those without relatives in the UK to settle.

It lets people in the UK nominate an individual or family to stay with them rent-free for at least six months.

Refugees who come via the scheme will be able to live and work in the UK for up to three years, and have access to healthcare, welfare and schools.

Applications are made online, and both hosts and refugees are vetted. Hosts receive £350 a month.

Many families who have applied to be sponsors have complained that the system is too slow and complicated.

As of 24 May, 115,000 Ukrainian visas had been issued, out of 135,600 applications, and as at 23 May, 60,100 visa holders had arrived in the UK.

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