According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe reached eight million at the beginning of 2023.
Between February 24, 2022, and January 3, 2023, more than 7.915 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe, including non-EU countries and Turkey. They were registered for national refugee protection programs.
The countries with the largest number of Ukrainians registered for temporary protection are Poland (1.5 million) and Germany (just over 1 million). Many Ukrainians also obtained refugee status in the Czech Republic (475,00), Italy (166,500), Spain (164,700), the United Kingdom (152,000), and Bulgaria (148,00).
According to the UNHCR, there have been more than 17 million crossings of Ukrainian borders into Europe since February 24, 2022, and 9.2 million in the opposite direction. It’s worth noting that these are not the numbers of people who crossed the borders.
"Movements back to Ukraine can be pendular and do not necessarily indicate sustainable returns as the situation across Ukraine remains highly volatile and unpredictable," the UNHCR site comments.
The majority of border crossings were into Poland (8.7 million), Hungary (2 million), Romania (1.8 million), Slovakia (over 1 million), and Moldova (739,00).
The majority of people returning to Ukraine also crossed the Polish border. In this direction, 6.6 million crossings were recorded from Poland, as well as 1.4 million from Hungary and 807,000 from Slovakia.
Earlier, the European Commission prolonged measures granting Ukrainian refugees rights to stay and protection until March 2024.
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