Ukrainian refugee exodus exceeds one million in a week

A woman kisses a man good bye after boarding a Lviv bound train, in Kyiv, Ukraine (Vadim Ghirda/AP)

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced more than a million people to flee the war in just a week, an exodus so swift it almost matches the number of people who sought refuge in Europe in a whole year during the 2015 migration crisis.

Seven years ago, hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled their strife-torn country, which Russian also bombarded. Together with people escaping fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, they headed west, with thousands dying at sea trying to reach a continent where many didn’t want them.