Will there be as many migrants as Ukrainians?

Black men in vyshyvankas. Photo: Club of the Native Kyivan

From those in power, we are hearing more and more statements about an impending mass influx of migrants. Former Minister of Economy Tymofiy Mylovanov declared that, in his view, after the war Ukraine’s population will shrink to about 10–15 million people, and the shortage of labor will have to be compensated by migrants – 10 million of them. In other words, the demographic balance of the country could be catastrophically altered: half the population could consist of migrants.

Today that sounds like fantasy, but Mylovanov explains – these are simple calculations:
“Look at how many pensioners we have; count the ratio between those working and those retired. It’s critical. Get ready for a new Ukraine. If we don’t learn to become smarter ourselves, we’ll be importing not tens of thousands, but millions.”

Needless to say, in such a scenario, the entire state ideology – from glorifying the SS “Galicia” and OUN-UPA, to the forced imposition of the OCU – would become completely irrelevant. The cultural and, tragically, religious landscape of Ukraine would be utterly transformed. The churches that today’s “patriots” are seizing with such zeal would fall into neglect and emptiness.

It should be said that all this is Mylovanov’s “pessimistic” scenario. There is also an “optimistic” one – that people will return home from the EU after the war. But even he admits he doesn’t really believe in it.

Today the authorities claim that we are fighting for Ukrainians, for their future. Yet, as Donald Trump has said, about a thousand Ukrainian citizens die every day in this war. And in their place, a thousand Arabs, Africans, or Asians will arrive. Such is the arithmetic – today, tomorrow, the next day, week after week, month after month, year after year, for as long as the war continues.

What will our country look like afterward?
And what kind of generations will come after us?

"Remember, stranger:
The one who rules this land’s no changer –
It’s the Ukrainian, its rightful ranger."
(A popular saying predominantly used by patriotically-minded Ukrainians in their slogans. Sounds as a bitter irony in this context – Trans. Note)

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