Number of internally displaced in Ukraine nears 1 million mark: UN

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that fighting in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region is forcing more people from their homes, pushing the number of people who have been registered as internally displaced close to 1 million.

In addition, since February 2014, some 600,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum or other forms of legal stay in neighboring countries, in particular Russia, but also including Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Hungary and Romania, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"The Agency's teams have reported that heavy fighting in Donetsk over the last two weeks has resulted in massive destruction of buildings and infrastructure, and in the collapse of basic services," the spokesman said.

"Many people are still trapped by the fighting, including in basements and buildings under constant bombardment," he said.

Last week, the UNHCR reported at least 943,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs). Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy on Friday counted some 980,000 people as currently internally displaced, expecting that figure to rise as fighting continues.

So far, more than 2,800 civilians, including about 700 children and 60 people living with disability, have been evacuated from the towns of Debaltseve, Avdiivka and Svitlodar, which have seen fierce combat. Several incidents of shelling of buses carrying the evacuees have been reported.

Evacuees are being taken to government-controlled towns to the north of Donetsk, but the Ukrainian government has expressed concerns that areas close to the frontline are unable to accommodate new arrivals because of the heavy shelling they are under, and they warn that people will have to be moved further away to central, southern and western parts of the country.

Organized evacuation is mainly done by bus or car, with the most vulnerable taking trains. Train carriages at the railway station in Slovyansk are used as temporary accommodation for evacuees as they await onward transportation.

Other civilians flee conflict areas by their own means, facing numerous dangers along the way. UNHCR teams on the ground report many of the recently displaced arriving with very few belongings and very few winter clothes.

The UN Agency has been working closely with local non- governmental organization networks to distribute relief items, such as blankets, sleeping bags, bed linen, warm clothes and jerry cans, in northern areas of the Donetsk region, the main place of arrival of IDPs from the conflict areas. It has also assisted around 1,600 newly arrived IDPs from Debaltsevo and Vuhlehirsk in conflict-affected areas which are not controlled by the government.

The lack of access to public services previously provided by the central authorities has drastically worsened the plight of the civilian population in areas not under government control, the UNHCR reported, pointing to further aggravation of the crisis due to restrictions on the movement of people and goods. Endite