BRUSSELS, July 11. /TASS/. Over 3 million Ukrainian refugees have already returned to Ukraine from the EU, with about 3.7 million people remaining in EU countries, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said during a press conference Monday.
"The figure that we have is that 6.7 million Ukrainians have entered into the European Union, […] and approximately 3 million have gone back," she said. "Actually, [there are] reports that 3.5 million [have returned]. We have 3.7 million that have applied for temporary protection. […] Some are here but have not applied because they plan to go back, while others have applied but have also gone back. Some registered first in the country of entry, and then registered second in the next country, so there are some overlaps here […] but I should say that [there are] 3.2 to 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees on the EU territory."
She confirmed that the influx of refugees has almost disappeared, falling back to the level before February 24, 2022. Furthermore, according to the official, the EU expects that some more refugees will return before the beginning of the academic year.
When asked about a potential deterioration of the migration situation in the EU due to the rapidly developing progress of Russian forces, she noted that, while Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions, as well as Ukraine’s response, are difficult to predict, the EU is still working on emergency plans.
According to the European Commissioner, the Czech Republic is currently number one state in terms of Ukrainian refugees per capita, followed by Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria and Latvia.
According to UN information, Russia is currently number one accepting state for Ukrainian refugees in the world, having accepted 1.412 million people, followed by Poland (1.195 million), Germany (867,000) and the Czech Republic (382,700).