The Growing Refugee Crisis In Ukraine

These Charts Reveal The Catastrophe Of Ukraine's Refugee Crisis -- Global Post

If you thought the ballot box would heal Ukraine, you were wrong, at least for now.

The past week has been election season for the troubled nation. On Oct. 26, the central Ukrainian government held parliamentary elections in which voters emphatically rejected radical candidates from both the left and right in favor of pro-Western moderates. Not to be outdone, on Nov. 2, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine held their own elections in the self-declared "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk. Western governments and Kyiv denounced the election, noting that it violated the Sept. 5 ceasefire agreement and warning Russia to stay out of it. Russia responded by voicing support for Donetsk and Luhansk, but stopped short of fully recognizing the regions as independent.

One question is: What will these elections mean for the hundreds and thousands of Ukrainians who've been displaced by conflict?

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Update: Over 235,000 Ukrainian refugees apply for temporary shelter, refugee status in Russia -- ITAR-TASS

My Comment: To begin .... I believe these numbers are far greater than what is being reported. Senior citizens who are alone will stay and live in their burnt down apartment building rather than make their way to a refugee camp and be registered. When I talk with my friends in the Ukraine parliament on this crisis ... they have also confessed to me that even they do not know how many refugees there are ... and more importantly .... the aid that is necessary.