In an interview with Ukraine's Novini Live page on April 9, lawmaker Nina Yuzhanina warned that at least half of Ukrainians living in Western countries may not want to return to their homeland.
The reason for this situation is due to the instability of the government apparatus, security concerns, as well as uncertainty in military aid packages from the West for Ukraine, Yuzhanina said.
She said that most of those who left have learned to be independent abroad without government support. The majority decided to stay maybe not 70%, but about 50%, she said.
Yuzhanina's speech comes as Kiev looks to deal with a serious labor shortage caused by massive migrations after the conflict escalated in 2022.
In February, Ukrainian Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov also admitted that only about 30% of those who have left Ukraine are actually considering returning, despite the country lacking 3.1 to 4.2 million workers in the next 10 years.
According to Chernyshov, the rate of Ukrainians who do not want to return could be up to 70%, 20% higher than the estimate of lawmaker Yuzhanina.
According to the European Commission (EC), as of January 2025, nearly 4.3 million Ukrainians have been granted temporary protection status in the European Union (EU), with Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic being the recipients.
However, the largest destination for Ukrainian refugees is Russia. According to estimates by the United Nations Relief Service, as of 2023, about 2.85 million Ukrainians have moved to Russia to live.
According to RT, Moscow has implemented many policies to support refugees, including facilitating naturalization. President Vladimir Putin has declared that people of Ukrainian origin are always welcome in Russia.
Meanwhile, the influx of Ukrainians into Western countries has caused tension and put pressure on the social security system.
In Germany, the " Job Turbo" program to encourage Ukrainians to participate in the labor market has been assessed by domestic media as a failure. According to auditors, the program helps less than 1% of foreign workers, including Ukrainians, find jobs.
