This report is produced by OCHA Ukraine in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the period from 3 p.m. (EET) 7 March to 3 p.m. (EET) 8 March

In the current protection crisis unfolding in Ukraine, humanitarian actors must pay particular attention to those who are most at risk of threats to safety and rights violations – including women, children, older people, and people who are blind and/or deaf, persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, those who have mobility limitations, and persons with high support needs. In this brief, the Global Protection Cluster calls on all parties to the conflict and humanitarian actors to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in Ukraine.

The following messages reflect priority protection issues and gaps in Ukraine, based on monitoring and analysis conducted by the Ukraine Protection Cluster and its regular Protection Snapshots. Additional contributions were made by the Global Protection Cluster’s Advocacy and Human Rights Engagement Task Teams. This document will be adapted while reflecting rapidly developing protection risks.

Just over 2 million Ukrainians have fled their country since Russia began its attack 12 days ago, NPR reports Tuesday per a United Nations tracker. Of the 2 million refugees, at least half are children, reports UNICEF. The 2 million total represents about 4 to 4.5 percent of Ukraine's population, notes NPR and Politico.

KYIV, 8 March 2022 – An estimated 800,000 children had fled Ukraine in recent weeks, as the total number of refugees fleeing Ukraine reached 2 million people today. A growing number of these children are arriving on their own, without family support, in an escalating child protection crisis.

Hundreds of Ukraine’s Roma people face an uncertain future in Moldova’s capital Chisinau as many are not documented.

The exodus from the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia and from across Ukraine has been underway since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, 2022, with more than a million refugees pouring into neighboring countries. The pace of evacuations from Zaporizhzhia has escalated since Thursday evening, when the nearby nuclear power station in Enerhodar was captured by Russian soldiers, who set fire to a training building adjacent to the plant. Some residents fear the Russians will attack the city itself next, or try to impose power blackouts.

Joint statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

Nikolai Kuleba is the ombudsman for children with the office of the president of Ukraine. This is an extract from his opinion piece in The Guardian: "Daily, parents call me pleading for assistance to evacuate their children, willing to take any risk to find safety. I cannot help them all now. I cannot tell them they are wrong to ask."

UNICEF estimates that 7.5 million children in Ukraine are in danger from the conflict and require urgent assistance. Shelling has hit hospitals, restricted the work of emergency services and is creating a major wave of trauma among the young. Half a million children have fled out of Ukraine with their families.