With the push of Russian forces into eastern Ukraine, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees warned Thursday that Europeans should prepare for a likely new wave of displaced people fleeing the fighting.
“Any exacerbation of the war is likely to cause new displacements, one way or another, and we must prepare for this,” Filippo Grandi said in an interview with AFP in kyiv. “As we have seen everywhere, in Mariupol, in Kherson, whenever the fighting escalates, people will naturally try to take cover,” he continued, referring to two major battles in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022.
“We say to the Ukrainian government, but also to the governments of neighboring countries, to be ready, to prepare for any eventuality,” he adds.