‘Servant of the People’ declares failure in supporting IDPs: people are forced to return to occupation
The leader of the “Servant of the People” party, Olena Shulyak, said that the state policy of supporting internally displaced persons (IDPs) has suffered a serious failure. She noted that due to the lack of adequate assistance with housing, many displaced persons are forced to return to the occupied territories. This statement Shulyak did in response to the words of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubinets, who reported on the decrease in the number of IDPs in Ukraine.
Shulyak emphasized that the main need of the displaced people remains the provision of housing. Two state programs — “eOselya” and “eRecovery” — should help solve this problem, but the situation looks different. The “eOselya” program is almost inaccessible to resettled people due to difficult conditions for receiving it, and the financing of the “eRecovery” program in 2025 will almost entirely depend on international donors, since the state has not provided significant funds for its implementation.
In addition, residents of the occupied territories cannot take advantage of the “eRecovery” program to receive compensation for destroyed property, which further complicates their situation. Shulyak added that against this background, Russia has intensified an information campaign, offering compensation in the amount of 45,000 rubles for each square meter of destroyed housing, which is an attempt to attract displaced people back to the occupied territories.
It will be recalled that Dmytro Lubinets previously stated that the decrease in the number of displaced persons is due to the fact that people are returning to temporarily occupied territories and to front-line cities due to difficult socio-economic conditions in new places. He also drew attention to the existence of certain tensions between IDPs and the local population.
According to the data of the Ministry of Social Policy, as of October 22, 2024, 4.6 million displaced persons were registered in Ukraine, which is 300,000 less than at the beginning of the year. The largest number of IDPs is concentrated in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. Despite the extension of housing benefits from 1 March 2024, assistance is only provided to those who are unable to work, care for children or the sick, or have low incomes.
In 2025, the government does not plan to increase financial support for displaced persons, but is considering the possibility of introducing a subsidy for housing rent, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
