Kiev says it has started a process to return refugees

Kiev has started the process of returning citizens who are abroad. Ukrainian refugees will be able to return voluntarily from abroad to the country, no coercive measures will be applied to them. This was announced by the head of the Ministry of national unity Oleksiy Chernyshov on January 7 on the air of the national telethon.

"We are starting the process of returning Ukrainians home. I would like to say at once that the return is exclusively voluntary, there will be no coercive measures," - said the Minister.

According to him, now there are 20-25 million Ukrainians abroad, 32 million - on the territory of the country. At the same time, he did not give any details of the return process.

On December 24, the media reported on Kiev's desire to stop the EU's support for Ukrainian refugees. It was reported that Ukrainians living abroad told journalists that they were not going to return until the situation in the country stabilizes.

Earlier, on December 20, it was reported that the Finnish authorities were thinking about finding a legal way to return Ukrainian refugees to their homeland. At the same time, in 2024, the Finnish migration service was able to make only three official decisions on the return of Ukrainian citizens home.

European countries began to accommodate Ukrainian refugees on their territories since the beginning of Russia's special operation to protect Donbas, which the Russian Federation announced on February 24, 2022.