Russia’s war against Ukraine has taken many victims and caused tremendous hardships to the Ukrainian people inside the country but it has also caused a massive displacement crisis, unseen in recent European history. Ukrainians forced to leave their homeland have ended up in many different places and while most of them vow to eventually return, some of them have found a welcoming environment in Europe and even farther.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that by the end of July 2024, there were at least 6.168 million Ukrainian refugees registered throughout Europe. Nearly a third of the population has been forced to leave their homes as a result of the war, creating the biggest population displacement crisis since World War II.
More than 6 million Ukrainian refugees are dispersed throughout Europe.
There are currently 6.74 million Ukrainians living in exile outside of Europe, including an additional 571,000. The United Nations also reports that 3.7 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine’s borders.
With significant regional variations, there are over a million in Germany and about 2.5 million in Western Europe. Spain is home to three times as many Ukrainian refugees as France, for instance.
Eleven Eastern European nations that border Ukraine—Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia—are home to nearly 2 million refugees.
The majority of Ukrainian refugees are still in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
About Those Who Return
“It is difficult to survive in Latvia with two children as a single parent with an average income.” According to an IOM survey of Ukrainian refugees in 11 nations, the most pressing need overall was for financial assistance. Access to healthcare and medications was a major need for refugees in the majority of countries, in addition to financial challenges. The situation in Ukraine has not changed, so for most foreigners returning to Ukraine, the trip is not motivated by increased safety. Rather, they are coming back because they have been away from their families for a long time or because their new homes are not able to accommodate their needs.
“I went to stay with family in Bulgaria and now I’m going back to Ukraine to visit my sister, she’s sick and needs help,” a returnee crossing back from Romania shared with surveyors. The main motivation for both short-term tourists and potential returnees to go back is to see and reconnect with family.
About Those Who Stay
Oleksiyy Danko and Anastacia Kozmina departed Ukraine shortly after the conflict began in February 2022. In a report by BBC, they discussed how, after arriving thanks to a friend’s sponsorship, they had to face reality. Oleksiyy was a licensed pharmacist; Anastacia was a lawyer. Back home, to earn extra cash, they also dry cleaned furniture.
According to Anastacia, she knew she didn’t want to live in a war zone when the bombing started on February 24, 2022. After putting out a Facebook appeal for a sponsor, the couple eventually found one in Southport, Merseyside, thanks to friends who had relocated to England.
According to Anastacia, “It was a really hard period for us,” “I quit doing my hair, nails, and makeup. It took me six months to refocus and realize that I was in a secure environment.The couple decided to use their side-hustle skills and start a business dry-cleaning furniture after Anastacia was unable to find employment as a lawyer due to the UK’s different legal system.
They printed some pamphlets and were taken aback when they got calls from people who wanted things that weren’t really dirty cleaned.
“This woman wanted to help us, so she gave us some lovely flowers when Oleksiyy went to clean a tiny sofa. She was very kind and wanted to help us,” she says.
They intend to keep running the company in the UK.
An Unexpected Terminal: Australia
Since February 24, 2022 the Australian government has granted more than 11,500 visas to Ukrainian refugees who were desperate to flee the conflict and find a place of safety.
Ukrainians who eventually fled to Australia were covered by ABC News. One of them, Daria was a member of a civilian resistance group in her home oblast of Kherson. She made the decision to leave after learning that soldiers had broken into her friends’ houses and ordered them to begin working for Russia while brandishing loaded weapons at their children’s heads.
She fled by taking evacuation buses through the Crimea region into Russia and then Georgia, where she was joined by her elderly grandmother and teenage brother.
“It took us two days of non-stop driving, a lot of interrogation, a lot of check-ins and disgusting stamps in our passports with Russian symbols, to cross the Russian border,” she continued.When Daria first arrived in Georgia in June 2022, she applied for an Australian visa. A week later, she took a plane to Brisbane to be with her stepfather, who was born in Australia.
She had no money, no car, and no smartcard for public transportation when she got there. It took her more than a year to get back on her feet, working five different jobs.
“I collected as much money as I could in case I needed to pay for my visa to stay here, because I can’t go back to Kherson,” Daria stated.
“I really appreciate [Australia], I’m in love with this land… And I’m really grateful for the opportunity that the people of Australia and the government gave us. They helped people to find a new home,” she elaborated to ABC News.
