Authorities expect up to 2 million Ukrainians to return home after war

Denys Ulyutin. Photo: facebook.com/denys.ulyutin.5

Ukrainian authorities expect that after the end of active hostilities, about two million citizens who left the country due to the war will be able to return. This was stated by Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity Denys Uliutin, asserting that the key condition for this should be the development of local communities.

According to him, the main emphasis should be placed not on individual assistance, but on creating living conditions – access to work, housing, healthcare and education. It is assumed that precisely the combination of these factors will determine people's decision to return to their homeland.

The authorities also intend to develop so-called Unity Centers abroad, where Ukrainians will be able to receive consultations both on issues of life in host countries and on possibilities of return. The first such center has already been opened in Berlin, and the launch of similar initiatives in other European countries is planned in the near future.

At the same time, specialists point out that the real scale of return may be significantly lower. Director of the Mykhailo Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences Ella Libanova believes that the longer the war continues, the fewer Ukrainians will return to Ukraine. And some citizens, on the contrary, after its completion may continue migration or reunite with families outside the country.

As the UOJ wrote, the Migration Policy Office stated that every year Ukraine loses the equivalent of Zhytomyr.

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