ROME, March 14. /TASS/. More than 5 million people in Ukraine have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the conflict, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in an interview published Monday in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"More than 5 million people in Ukraine, 10 to 15% of the population, are now homeless. Half of these people have already left the country, but at this rate, another 3 million will leave in the coming days," Grandi said. He said a third of Ukraine’s 40 million population is "desperate because of the effects of the war." "What is most striking is how such a situation has been created in just two weeks," he added, noting that "this migration crisis is the most serious" since World War II. The high commissioner also pointed out that so far it has generally been handled because "Ukrainians have close ties to Europe, where the Ukrainian community is rooted." "From that point of view, their temporary admission is easier, as long as we don't need large reception centers for the time being. But we have to watch how the situation develops, especially if the bombings expand to the western parts of the country," Grandi said.

Earlier, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that 3-5 million people in Ukraine need food aid.