How many Ukrainians have left the country since the war began: Lubinets revealed a shocking figure
7 June 21:15
Since the start of Russian aggression in 2014, 8.5 million Ukrainians have left the country. This was reported by Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada’s Human Rights Commissioner, following the World Ukrainian Summit, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“I joined the World Ukrainian Summit and would first like to thank the organizers for this important initiative. We are dealing with staggering figures: according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 5.7 million Ukrainians have left the country since 2022, and if we count from the start of Russian aggression in 2014, the number has already reached 8.5 million. “This is a global challenge that requires coordinated action,” Lubinets stated.
According to the ombudsman, “the primary key protection mechanism must remain the international status of temporary protection—it must remain in effect until active hostilities in Ukraine have ended. And it must apply first and foremost to vulnerable categories of citizens. For our part, the Ombudsman’s Office is developing a systematic overseas tool—a network of representatives and advisors who provide on-the-ground consultation and assistance to help citizens protect their rights.”
As Lubinets noted, “in addition to assisting Ukrainians abroad with documentation, we are facing painful cases of Ukrainian children being taken into custody by foreign authorities. We have an example in Italy, where a child was taken into custody and placed in the care of foreigners.”
The Ombudsman emphasized that “international humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the adoption of children from countries where war is ongoing. We are responding firmly to such incidents and urge our international partners to pay attention to this.”
“We all sincerely want our people to return, but appeals alone are not enough. Two conditions are necessary: reliable international security guarantees and a separate international initiative to provide housing, without which a mass return will not happen,” Lubinets stated.
“We are waiting at home for every Ukrainian man and woman, so together with our partners, we must join forces to ensure decent conditions and give millions of our citizens a real opportunity to live in their own country,” the ombudsman added.
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