Ukrainians return en masse to the temporarily occupied territories: reasons for this trend
One of the most painful and urgent problems of modern Ukraine is the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to the temporarily occupied territories seized by Russia. This phenomenon has gained a wide scale and indicates the serious difficulties faced by the resettled people, as well as the insufficient effectiveness of state support. Such trends cause deep concern among the public, politicians and experts.
People’s Deputy of Ukraine, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Maksym Tkachenko reportedthat the situation with the return of IDPs to the occupation is complex and multifaceted. According to him, more than 150 thousand IDPs decided to return to the occupied territories, in particular, almost 70 thousand people returned to the temporarily occupied Mariupol.
“About 150,000 internally displaced persons have already returned to the temporarily occupied territories. For example, according to available data, 200,000 Mariupol residents left their city, fleeing the war that Russia brought to our land. At the same time, every third of them returned home to Mariupol, in occupation. According to estimates, these are approximately 67-70 thousand people, in my opinion, these are terrible numbers.” – emphasized the people’s deputy.
In his opinion, the reasons for this decision lie in several main factors. First, resettled people often experience a lack of adequate state support and integration into new communities. The financial situation is also difficult: the average salary of displaced persons does not exceed 8-12 thousand hryvnias, while renting housing in conditionally safe regions starts from 10 thousand hryvnias per month. Moreover, migrants who find work lose their right to state assistance for housing rent compensation, which amounts to only 2,000 hryvnias per person and 3,000 hryvnias for children or persons with disabilities.
As Tkachenko reported, another significant factor is the limitation of free housing with decent living conditions. Most of the displaced are forced to rent housing or seek shelter in difficult conditions, which complicates their lives and creates additional psychological pressure.
Maksym Tkachenko also drew attention to the decrease in the amount of state aid for IDPs. In 2022, about 73 billion hryvnias were allocated for payments to displaced persons, in 2023 this amount was reduced to 57 billion, and for 2024 only 48.6 billion hryvnias are provided. This reduction leads to a significant deterioration of the living conditions of the displaced people and forces them to look for alternative options, in particular, to return to the occupied territories.
Former deputy minister for temporarily occupied territories Georgy Tuka as well confirmed scale of the problem and noted that almost 99% of displaced persons who return to the occupied territories do not do so out of their own will, but because of the impossibility of arranging their lives in the territory controlled by Ukraine. He noted that the problem of the return of displaced persons to the occupied territories has existed since 2015, but still remains unresolved.
“I have been observing the process of the return of refugees to the temporarily occupied territories since 2015, when I headed the Luhansk military administration, and then worked in the ministry. I have repeatedly communicated with people and I do not even have a hint of condemning these people. I do not know a single such person , who would voluntarily return to TOT. Almost 99% of people return because they could not arrange a normal life in controlled Ukraine territories”, – emphasized Tuka.
Tuka emphasized that the state should focus on solving the social problems of IDPs.
“In particular, this applies to living, working and raising children. Practically the entire range of social issues. These issues remain unresolved today. I perfectly understand that today the challenges for us are greater, but the issue was not resolved then, so it is not resolved now.” – believes the ex-deputy minister.
