The Ukrainian authorities are asking the EU not to create programs for the integration of Ukrainians in host countries, because they do not consider them refugees, but only those who were forced to leave, the head of the Ukrainian Migration Service Natalya Naumenko said.
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“We do not consider them as refugees. We consider them as people who were forced to leave Ukraine. Fortunately, colleagues from migration services of other countries also support me when I ask not to consider our citizens as refugees and not to create programs for their integration in the country stay,” Naumenko said.
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Naumenko also considers the UN data on eight million Ukrainians abroad to be “somewhat overestimated.”
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Previously, the European Commission stated that a total of 16 million Ukrainians arrived in the EU within the framework of the temporary protection mechanism for Ukrainian refugees, 11 million then returned to their homeland, one million went to the USA, Great Britain and Canada, and 4 million remain in the EU. The mechanism allows citizens of Ukraine to legalize themselves in the EU using a simplified procedure, receive healthcare and education services, access to the labor market, housing and social benefits.
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At the end of June, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets said that more than eight million Ukrainians are refugees, of which more than five million have applied for temporary resident status in neighboring European countries.