MADRID, March 17 — About 4,500 Ukrainian refugees have been registered in Spain since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, but the real number is much higher, Spain’s Migration Minister Jose Luis Escriva said today.

More than 3 million people have fled the war in Ukraine in what the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War Two.

"It is difficult to know the real number of refugees because many go directly to their families here in Spain without registering with the authorities”, the minister said.

The majority of European countries have offered to take in refugees in the past weeks to help alleviate the pressure on Ukraine’s neighbours as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues.

Poland has taken in more than 1.8 million Ukrainians so far while Romania and Moldova have registered 435,432 and 337,215, respectively, following the invasion.

The UN estimates around 300,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Western Europe since the start of the war on Feb. 24. — Reuters