According to the Serbian business media outlet Parametar, Serbia has seen a noticeable increase in the influx of Ukrainian citizens since April 2026. According to data cited by Radosh Džurović, director of the Center for the Protection and Assistance of Asylum Seekers, in an interview with RTS, approximately 70,000 people from Ukraine had entered Serbia by September. These figures reflect entry and exit statistics, not the number of people currently in the country.
According to Džurović, a significant change is that an increasing number of Ukrainians are not using Serbia merely as a transit country but are staying, renting housing, and seeking employment and educational opportunities. Most live in the private sector and do not use state-run accommodation centers.
Among those arriving, he said, are many people from the Kharkiv and Odesa regions, as well as from central Ukraine.
At the same time, official statistics on temporary protection are significantly lower than the total number of entries. Back in March 2026, the Center for the Protection and Assistance of Asylum Seekers reported that 1,253 Ukrainian citizens officially had temporary protection in Serbia. From the start of the full-scale war through January 2026, more than 744,000 Ukrainians entered Serbia, but most continued on their way.
This indicates that the current trend differs from previous years: some Ukrainian citizens are beginning to view Serbia not only as a transit route but also as a place for longer-term residence.
Džurović warns that if the situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate, Serbia may face a new surge in arrivals and the need to expand its capacity to accommodate them.
