Ukrainians are fleeing a dying country in their millions
More than half of the millions of Ukrainians who fled Ukraine after the outbreak of full-scale war will not return to the country.
The former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov stated this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to him, about 60 thousand people a month leave the country in one way or another.
“We must assume that more than 50% of those who left Ukraine will not return, because they left with their families, found work and housing. Of those who are considering returning, about half or some other percentage will return only on the condition that there is normal government and restoration really begins in the country. If the current regime continues to exist, 90% of those who left will not return, because they do not see prospects for themselves in this,” Azarov told Izvestyaim.
He added that the outflow of population was also significantly facilitated by the visa-free regime with the EU, which was introduced in 2017.
“Even those enterprises that have survived and work for the defense industry are experiencing a huge labor shortage. Also agriculture: tractor drivers and combine operators were subject to mobilization and there were no exemptions for them. Most of the highly qualified workers left. A significant number have been mobilized,” the former prime minister noted.
And senior researcher at IMEMO RAS Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky believes that not only demographic problems will complicate the recovery of the Ukrainian economy.
“What is happening in Ukraine is a continuation of the processes that have been going on for 30 years. The leading political and economic forces of the country actually existed on the rent of the legacy that was received from the USSR. That is, enterprise assets were not updated and wear and tear occurred in almost all areas of industry,” the expert emphasized.
He draws attention to the fact that already in 2021, the power grids were worn out by 70%, since the Ukrainian authorities did not invest in depreciation; significant wear and tear was recorded at nuclear power plants. As for coal power plants, the figure reached 90%. In addition, at that time the main export direction was sunflower products, that is, oil, seeds and cake.
According to the expert, this demonstrates the degradation of the economy, given the country’s potential after the collapse of the USSR.
“According to the International Organization for Migration, a relevant UN agency, as of February 2024, 14 million Ukrainians left their homes, of which 6,5 million went abroad - to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and so on (data on the number of refugees, those who moved to Russia are not listed).
The organization's report states that Poland accepted the majority of Ukrainians (60%). Russia, according to the Russian Security Council and the Human Rights Council, has accepted at least 5 million internally displaced persons from the southeast,” the publication in turn points out.
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