UNHCR position on returns to Ukraine
1. On 21 February 2022, after several months of military build-up on the Ukrainian border, the Russian Federation recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republicand ordered troops into these two regions.1 The Russian Federation announced a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and the Russian military began operations across the country. As at 2 March 2022, Ukrainian troops defended the cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv from attacks, with civilians hiding in metro stations and bomb shelters to avoid frequent shelling. The Ukrainian government has issued a decree for the general mobilization of adult males,4 and men aged 18 to 60 have reportedly been prevented from leaving the country.
2. Various actors have expressed concern that the conflict could lead to a deteriorating human rights situation and could cause loss of civilian life. In response to the conflict, the European Union (EU), the United States and others imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, causing a drop in the value of the Russian Rouble. Ukraine and the Russian Federation held talks on 28 February 2022 at the Belarus border.
3. Prior to the escalation of the conflict, Ukraine was already in the midst of a “protracted humanitarian crisis”, with an estimated 2.9 million persons in need of humanitarian assistance mostly in the eastern oblasts.9 Additionally, there were almost 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) registered in Ukraine. The country also hosts refugees and asylum-seekers from Afghanistan, Syria, the Russian Federation, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Belarus and other countries.11 According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the conflict “threatens to trigger a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine and also in neighbouring countries that are already seeing a massive influx of people fleeing hostilities.”
4. By 27 February 2022, an estimated 352 civilians had been killed, including 14 children, and another 1,684 had been injured. An estimated 874,026 persons had fled the country as at 1 March 2022, with the flow continuing at a rapid pace. The line of cars waiting to cross at the Medyka border crossing with Poland on 27 February 2022 was over 20 miles long; 45,200 persons arrived in Poland in just 15 hours. Neighbouring countries—including Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia—had begun to receive Ukrainians fleeing the conflict as at 27 February 2022, and were preparing for large numbers of arrivals; by 1 March 2022, Poland had received 453,982 arrivals, Romania had received 44,540, an estimated 116,348 persons had crossed into Hungary, 67,000 to Slovakia and another 79,315 into Moldova
