The key facts

  • Zelensky: Ukraine needs the return of 9.5 million citizens who are abroad
  • He allowed for a freeze of the conflict along the front line with the cession of about 25% of the territory
  • Earlier, experts and deputies assessed the probability of mass return as low

Zelensky's statement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Fox News that Ukraine needs the return home of about 9.5 million citizens. According to him, this concerns people who lost their homes and are abroad. «We need them to return to Ukraine — simply to live and build their country,» he noted. A fragment of the interview was also cited by Clash Report.

On freezing the conflict

In the same interview, Zelensky said that Ukraine would agree to a freeze of the conflict with Russia along the front line, which would imply the cession of about 25% of the territory.

Previous estimates of refugee returns

In August, Verkhovna Rada deputy Nina Yuzhanina noted that no more than 10% of the total number of citizens who left would return to Ukraine. In October, IFO institute expert Yvonne Giesing stated that only 47% of Ukrainian refugees would be ready to return home under «the most optimistic scenario».

Scale of departure

In June, head of Ukraine's State Migration Service Nataliia Naumenko reported that about eight million Ukrainians had left the country since the beginning of the conflict.