The Office of the Ukrainian Ombudsman reports that Ukrainian citizens continue to leave the country, but there are no accurate statistics on how many of them decide to return to Ukraine for permanent residence.
This was stated by Olha Altunina, representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, in a comment to Ukrinform when asked whether the Ombudsman had contacted foreign governments to obtain data on the number of Ukrainian refugees.
“There is no need for that. The UNHCR provides this figure, and it changes monthly. We see the trends — we see that our citizens continue to leave. More than 400,000 people left last year alone. This process continues,” Altunina said.
She explained that while the State Border Guard Service tracks the entry of Ukrainian citizens into the country, this does not indicate permanent returns, as people may be re-entering temporarily and later leave again for Poland, Germany, or other countries.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to say how many people are returning permanently. The border service only records the fact of entry, but it is unclear whether it is a temporary or permanent return,” she added.
Altunina also noted that the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine has not increased recently, despite ongoing Russian occupation of more territories.
“Despite the fact that the Russians are occupying more territory in Ukraine, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country is not increasing (according to official statistics on citizens with certificates of internal displacement – ed.). There is also an order to expand the number of territories considered to be active combat zones. It seems that we should have more IDPs, but their number is not growing,” she added.
According to the representative of the Ombudsman, citizens often do not want to admit in the host communities that they are IDPs.
“There is internal migration happening. Imagine, nearly 900,000 IDPs migrated within the country last year. That means people are looking for cheaper housing, where there is work, where conditions are better. It is unpleasant to admit, but there are facts of discrimination against IDPs. And sometimes, when people move to another region, they don’t admit in schools that their child is an IDP, so the child doesn’t face discrimination,” she added.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Iryna Vereshchuk stated at the end of 2024 that there is no verified data on thousands of IDPs allegedly returning to occupied territories.
Photo: realgazeta.com.ua
Source: Ombudsman's Office lacking statistics on number of Ukrainians returning home permanently
