Some 16,400 people fled their homes in eastern Ukraine in the past week, many citing deteriorating security and fears of abduction, and the number of displaced within the country has risen to 54,000, the UN said yesterday.

Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing that “displaced people cite worsening law and order, they say that they fear abductions and that there are human rights violations as well as the destruction of state services.”

The figure of 54,000 includes 12,000 who fled Ukraine’s Crimea region, which was seized by Russia in March and subsequently annexed after protesters ousted Kiev’s Moscow-supported president.

Another 110,000 people have left Ukraine for Russia so far this year, only 9,500 of whom have sought refugee status, while 700 Ukrainians have gone to Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Romania, Fleming said.

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