Geography of Internally Displaced Persons in the western region of Ukraine: volumes, directions, consequences, problems
Authors: Dzhaman Yaroslav , Dzhaman Vasyl 
Published: December 2024

The problem of emergence and legal regulation in Ukraine of a new category of migrants - "internally displaced persons", caused by Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, is considered. The territorial differences and dynamics of the survey and registration of internally displaced persons in the regions of Ukraine by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are disclosed. The volumes and features of the dynamics of indicators of the number of internally displaced persons in the western region are analyzed. region of Ukraine in the context of administrative regions and districts. Attention is paid to social support for internally displaced persons.

A new category of forced migrants – "internally displaced persons" – emerged in Ukraine with the beginning of Russia's military aggression in 2014, when Ukrainian citizens were forced to leave their homes in the temporarily occupied territories and part of the anti-terrorist operation zone in order to search for safe places. In order to legally regulate the growing number of this category of the population, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution "On Registration of Internally Displaced Persons" and the Law of Ukraine "On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons" was adopted.

Initially, most IDPs migrated over short distances, but russia's full-scale war led to a massive displacement of the population in Ukraine over long distances. During the first month of the war, 10.1 million people became forced migrants. Ukrainians, including IDPs – almost 6.5 million. In 2023, the total number of IDPs in Ukraine as a whole stabilized at the level of 3.5-3.7 million. Persons. On 31.03.2024 (IOM Round 34), the number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine was 3387.3 thousand.

In the western region of Ukraine, a study of the geography of registered IDPs was initiated by IOM in Zakarpattia region during the first round of evaluation. In the second half of June 2022, IOM covered the entire territory of the western region of Ukraine with an IDP survey. Their number was 661437 people. With certain "jumps" in the number of IDPs, their number in the western region of Ukraine grew during 2022 and reached a maximum of 851,942 people. After that, the number of internally displaced persons stabilized (December 2022 – February 2023) and subsequently had a constant downward trend (as of 31.03.2024 – 715279 people).

During 2022, the changes in the quantitative parameters of IDPs by region were much larger. At the same time, there are two groups of regions in terms of the number of IDPs: 1) intensive arrival – Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk regions; 2) moderate arrival – Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Rivne, Volyn regions.

Territorial differences in migration flows are clearly reflected in maps and graphs that convey the dynamics of the number of registered IDPs, both in the western region of Ukraine as a whole and in the context of regions and districts.

Keywords: internally displaced persons, migrations, regions, western region of Ukraine, war, Ukraine.