That figure is almost a quarter of the country’s population, which the World Bank estimated was 44 million in 2020.
Of those who have fled their homes, the majority — 6.48 million as of March 16, according to data provided by the International Organization for Migration on Friday — have been internally displaced since the conflict began on February 24.
Others have taken refuge in neighboring countries, including Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Russia and Belarus.
“Among the responsibilities of those who wage war around the world is the suffering inflicted on civilians who are forced to leave their homes,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. tweet on Sunday.
“The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million people have fled, either within the country or as refugees abroad,” he added.
The UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said on Thursday that more than 90% of the 3.1 million people who have fled Ukraine are women and children.
Raouf Mazu, UNHCR Assistant Commissioner, said this points to “an increased risk of gender-based violence and other forms of exploitation and abuse, including human trafficking.”
UNICEF spokesman Joe English told CNN Sunday that 1.5 million Ukrainian children have become refugees as a result of Russia’s invasion and that another 3.3 million children are currently internally displaced.
“Each of them is a separate child whose life has been torn apart, whose world has been turned upside down,” English said.
Where did the people run?
According to the UN, in the first three weeks of the conflict, two million people arrived in Poland from Ukraine, while more than a million left for other neighboring countries.
Mazu said last week that he estimated 490,000 Ukrainians fled to Romania, 350,000 to Moldova, 280,000 to Hungary and 228,000 to Slovakia.
In just a few weeks, Poland has become “one of the largest refugee-receiving countries in the world,” Mazu said.
Grandi previously called the sheer number of people fleeing their homes in Ukraine “appalling” and earlier this month described the situation as “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.”
Countries across Europe have also welcomed refugees from Ukraine, including those from France, where more than 10,000 have arrived since Russia’s invasion, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told French TV channel RTL on Monday.
Citizens of Ukraine can enter France without a visa, he said, adding that many of those arriving were only passing through to the large Ukrainian community in Spain.
Meanwhile, more than 187,000 refugees arrived in Germany from Ukraine, the German Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
However, a ministry spokesman said the actual number could be significantly higher due to the lack of border checks between Poland and Germany.
CNN’s Benjamin Brown, Joseph Ataman, Camilla Knight, and Amy Cassidy contributed to this report.