40,000 more Ukrainians flee war: UN

Many of the nearly five million people who have fled Ukraine will not have homes to return to, the United Nations said yesterday as another 40,000 fled the country in 24 hours.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 4,836,445 million Ukrainians had left the country since the Russian invasion on February 24 -- a number up 40,200 on Friday's total.

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 215,000 third-country nationals -- largely students and migrant workers -- have also escaped to neighbouring countries, meaning more than five million people in all have fled Ukraine since the war began.

Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have been forced from their homes, including those still inside the country.

Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates 7.1 million people have left their homes but are still in Ukraine.