About nine million citizens have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war. More than six million Ukrainians still remain abroad. About two million of them would like to return to their homeland. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to the UN report.
According to the organization, about 350 people have already returned to the territory of the country, but they could not return to their homes and remained in the status of displaced persons.
According to the calculations of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, every 100 thousand people who left reduce the country’s GDP by 0.5%, The Wall Street Journal reported. The current wave of returnees consists of those who could not find stable jobs and housing abroad, or those who left close relatives in the country. The Ministry of Economy is looking to create four and a half million jobs over the next 10 years to stimulate the economy.
Western countries expect that Russian assets frozen abroad can be used to restore Ukraine’s economy. In particular, the European Union plans to develop a scheme to transfer to Kyiv the amount of 300 billion dollars. However, no legal mechanism for confiscating the funds has been found so far.
The Kremlin said that if foreign countries decided to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, Moscow would regard such a step as outright theft. The Russian president called the EU proposals a violation of the rules and norms of international trade.
