kyiv: Expressing concern over the increasing number of people who are fleeing war-ravaged Ukraine, the United Nations has described the large-scale migration as a ‘massive humanitarian crises’ which is only growing every passing day.

The statement of the UN has come a day after it was reported that over 40,000 more people have left Ukraine as the war continued.

The reports said that in the last one week itself, on an average 40,000 people are fleeing to neighboring countries to escape from the war.

UNHCR has already claimed that after the war broke out on February 24, over 40 lakh people have already migrated to other countries.

 “We are now being faced with the hard reality caused by the massive humanitarian crisis that is growing by the second,” UNHCR said.

The note said that 13 million people are still estimated to be stranded in affected areas or unable to leave.

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have fled. Half of those are children. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military call-up and cannot leave.

UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, says more than half of the country’s estimated 7.5 million children have been displaced.

“As the number of children fleeing their homes continues to increase, we must remember that every single one of them needs protection, education, safety and support,” said UNICEF head Catherine Russell.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said it was vital to extend a welcome “to all who have fled, without discrimination”.

Till March 16, some 6.48 million people were estimated to be internally displaced within Ukraine, an IOM survey showed.

“They are more than statistics. They are people whose lives have been upended by the war,” the IOM said.

Before the Russian invasion five weeks ago, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east.