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More than seven million people have fled Ukraine since war broke out, the UN refugee agency has said.
The number of people who have crossed the country's borders stood at 7,252,542 since the Russian invasion began on February 24, the UNHCR’s tally showed on Wednesday.
There were 4,793,216 refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe, with Poland, Russia and Moldova the top host countries, it said.
The war in Ukraine has sent refugees fleeing from all parts of the country as fighting exploded in the capital, Kyiv — where Ukrainian fighters forced Russia’s military to withdraw — and in the east where Russia wants control of the Donbas region.
Ukrainian refugees arrive in Europe - in pictures
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A Ukrainian refugee waits to be given shelter in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. AFP -
Campaigner Rend Platings, right, embraces her Ukrainian best friend Kristina Korniiuk as they are reunited outside her home in Cambridge. Ms Platings went on hunger strike until MsKorniiuk's UK visa was approved and painted her house in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. PA -
Ukrainian women attend a job-seekers' meeting aboard the 'Mediterranee' ferry, where they are living while it remains docked in Marseille, southern France. AFP -
Refugee schoolchildren are given Ukrainian primary school education in Berlin, where they also have the choice of attending German schools. Getty -
Teacher Katja with Artem, Sofia and Alexander, refugee schoolchildren who are receiving Ukrainian curriculum primary school education in Berlin, Germany. Getty -
Ukrainian refugee Alikhan Yusupov, 10, on his first day at Caldecote Primary School after his family fled their home in Kharkiv and moved to Cambridgeshire, England. PA -
Roman Starkov plays with nephew Alikhan as they settle into their new home in Caldecote, near Cambridge, after they fled Kharkiv. PA -
Ukrainian refugee Egor Svichkar, 3, whose family now live with a British host. PA -
Ukrainian refugees Yaroslav Kryvoshyia and Irina Kryvoviaz, with her son Sasha as they settle into their new home in North Moreton, Oxfordshire. PA -
An Ukrainian refugee woman sews in Strasbourg, France, part of project for Ukrainian refugees to find jobs after fleeing the war. AFP -
Ukranian refugee Karolina, 16, laughs as she prepares for a party at the La Ville-aux-Dames camp site, her family's temporary home in La Ville-aux-Dames, central France. AFP -
Ukrainians queue outside a refugee centre in Paris. AFP -
Myroslava Perevalska (R), an artist who fled Kyiv, helps a Ukrainian girl paint Easter eggs in Berlin. Getty Images -
The 'Beacon of Ukraine', a gathering at Markthalle Neun in Berlin, bringing together refugees and NGOs as well as showcasing Ukrainian culture. Getty Images -
Larysa Biachenko, 40, who does not know if her house in Chernihiv is still standing, and Svitlana Lykhonos, 43, who was the owner of a hotel restaurant in Frankiusk, peel onions at a special cooking course run by the regional government to offer them a job opportunity, in Alicante, Spain. Reuters -
A convoy of Ukrainian refugees who left Mariupol, accompanied by 17 volunteers, arrive at Juan Carlos I park in Madrid. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees, who arrived in Italy from Lviv after two weeks of travel, are tended to in the reception centre of the Red Cross in Settimo Torinese, near Turin. EPA
Few will be returning to the industrial city of Severodonetsk in the near future after Ukrainian forces pulled back from the city following a fierce Russian assault, the regional governor said on Wednesday.
Russia has concentrated its troops and firepower on the small eastern city in the Donbas as it tries to secure the surrounding province.
Ukraine has vowed to fight there for as long as possible, saying the battle could help shape the war's course.
“ … Our [forces] now again control only the outskirts of the city. But the fighting is still going on, our [forces] are defending Severodonetsk, it is impossible to say the Russians completely control the city,” governor Serhiy Gaidai said.
He said earlier that Russian forces would step up their bombardment of both Severodonetsk and its smaller twin city of Lysychansk on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River.
Ukrainian police released footage showing the evacuation of elderly people from Lysychansk. Removals had been stopped for about a week by shelling of the main road.
Russian forces have 10 times more equipment than Ukrainian troops in some areas of Severodonetsk, said Ukraine's defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk.
Two provinces, Luhansk and Donetsk, form the Donbas, which is claimed by Russia for its separatist proxies who have held eastern parts of the region since 2014.
Russian forces have been attacking the Ukrainian-held part of the Donbas from the north, east and south in an effort to encircle Ukrainian forces in the area.
In Sloviansk, one of the main Donbas cities still held by Ukraine, women with small children lined up to collect aid while other residents carried buckets of water across the city.
Most residents have fled but authorities say about 24,000 remain in the city, in the path of an expected assault by Russian forces regrouping to the north.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said two people were killed and two others wounded in the Luhansk region in the 24-hour period, while five civilians were wounded in Donetsk, and four were killed and 11 wounded in the Kharkiv region.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, residents cleaned up rubble from shelling carried out the previous day.
Ukraine pushed Russian forces back last month from the city's outskirts, but Russia still strikes it sporadically.
Russia-Ukraine conflict - in pictures
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British citizens Aiden Aslin, left, and Shaun Pinner, right, and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, centre, sit behind bars in a courtroom in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian enclave of Donetsk. The three were sentenced to death by pro-Moscow rebels for fighting on Ukraine's side. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier fires a machine gun near the town of New York in the breakaway Donetsk enclave. Reuters -
The gutted remains of cars lie along a road during heavy fighting in Severodonetsk. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers ride an armoured vehicle near the city of Bakhmut, in the breakaway Donetsk enclave. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers and members of civilian demining organisations take part in a training exercise for bomb disposal experts in Peja, Kosovo. Getty -
Volunteers clear debris near a damaged shopping mall after night shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA -
A man walks past a college on fire after a strike in Lysychansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP -
Ukrainian service members near the town of Soledar. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. AFP -
Residents kneel during a funeral procession for senior lieutenant Vasyl Herych, 31, of the 15th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion, who was killed in Perechyn, Ukraine. Reuters -
People hide in a bomb shelter in the city of Lysychansk in the Donbas region. AFP -
Ivan Sosnin, 19, surveys the damage to his home in Lysychansk. AFP -
Ukrainian troops repair a tank in the Donbas region. AFP -
Ukrainian troops fire rockets towards Russian positions at a front line in the Donbas region. AFP -
Volunteers from a Danish NGO demonstrate how to search for explosive devices with help of a loop metal detector, outside the town of Ichnia in Ukraine. Reuters -
A firefighter takes a break after putting out a fire at a house in a district of Kharkiv that was bombed by Russian forces. Reuters -
Plumes of smoke rise from a house on fire after a military strike by Russian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
The damaged house of Inna Bobryntseva, a woman who died during Russian shelling, in Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials exhumed her body from her backyard as part of an investigation into war crimes. Reuters -
A man moves items from a damaged shop in Kharkiv after a Russian military strike the night before. Reuters -
Civilian militia men hold shotguns during training at a shooting range on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AFP -
A woman walks by a destroyed apartment building in the town of Borodyanka. AFP -
Rescuers dismantle collapsing structures of a heavily damaged 16-storey residential building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv. AFP -
A Ukrainian bomb disposal worker carries unexploded ordnance during mine clearance work in the village of Yahidne, in the liberated territories of the Chernihiv region. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, visits the military during a trip to the Zaporizhzhia region. AFP -
Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a M777 Howitzer in the Donetsk region as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen manoeuvre a tank near the frontline in the Donetsk region. AP Photo -
The remains of the Darnytsia Car Repair Plant damaged by missile strikes in Kyiv. EPA -
A couple embrace on Maidan square in Kyiv. AP Photo -
Smoke rises from a residential area in Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several explosions occurred following missile strikes in the Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts of the capital with no casualties reported. EPA -
A woman holds a poster showing Russian President Vladimir Putin during a protest against the war in Ukraine at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. AP -
Smoke rises in the background after Russian missile strikes in Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian serviceman pauses before going back to the frontline in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. AP -
Firefighters dampen down a rail facility in the Darnytsia district of Kyiv after a Russian air strike. EPA -
An elderly woman sits in front of destroyed houses after a missile strike, which killed a civilian, in the city of Druzhkivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP -
A man examines an apartment destroyed during shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Five civilians were killed and 20 were injured. EPA -
Residents examine cars destroyed during shelling in Donetsk. EPA -
Civilians are evacuated from apartments destroyed during shelling in Donetsk. EPA -
A man looks on as smoke rises after explosions were heard in Kyiv. Reuters -
Residents chat in front of a destroyed building in Borodianka, as Russia's attacks on Ukraine continue. Reuters -
A monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, damaged by shelling in Borodianka. Reuters -
Men scavenge a burnt Russian military vehicle for parts and scrap metal in Novyi Bykiv. Getty -
A crater and a destroyed building after a rocket attack on a small airfield near Kharkiv. EPA -
Ukrainian howitzers in action at an undisclosed location. AFP -
A girl rides a scooter past a destroyed building in the village of Horenka, Kyiv. AFP -
Pope Francis hugs a child during a meeting at the Vatican with children with disabilities and Ukrainian children who fled their country. Reuters -
Ukrainian emergency works at a damaged building following shelling in Kharkiv. AP -
Members of a medical rescue team gather inside their temporary base in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. AP -
A woman sits at a destroyed bus station in the city of Mariupol. AFP -
Residents are evacuated from Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. AP
