As many as 10mn mostly women and children have fled fighting in Ukraine, either moving within the country or escaping abroad, in an “unprecedented” exodus for modern times, the UN refugee agency has said.

Some 6.5mn people have been displaced within the war-ravaged nation, while almost 3.5mn have crossed borders to safety since Russia invaded on February 24, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Monday.

“The combined speed and scale of this movement is unprecedented in recent memory,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, head of news at the refugee agency. “In Ukraine, our priority has been to scale up our presence and operations in central and western regions, where conditions enable better humanitarian access and needs are rapidly growing as people evacuate west and move across borders.”