Five out of six Ukrainians who have fled to the Netherlands to escape Russia’s invasion have found work, latest figures show.

The employee insurance agency UWV said it had received 46,000 notifications from employers who have taken on Ukrainian citizens this year. There are currently 55,000 Ukrainian refugees of working age living in the Netherlands.

The actual number in work may be slightly lower because the numbers do not show if people are working for more than one employer.

The majority of Ukrainians are concentrated in Amsterdam and The Hague, where they are most likely to find work in catering or via personnel agencies, the UWV said.

They include 26-year-old Anastasia from Odessa, who told NOS she fled Ukraine after she failed a medical test to join the army. ‘I wanted to fight in the way, I have had weapons training before, but my eyes were too bad,’ she said.

‘It got to a point where I was worried I wouldn’t be able to support myself, or more importantly my parents. So I came to the Netherlands.’

Ukrainian refugees have been exempted from the rules that bar refugees from seeking work for the first six months after they arrive in the country. Unlike other refugees, they can work without obtaining permission first from the UWV.