As of the end of March 2025, 4,329,970 citizens of non-EU countries who had left Ukraine due to the full-scale Russian invasion held temporary protection status in EU countries, which is 68,980 or 1.6% fewer than at the end of February, according to Eurostat.
“The largest decrease was recorded in Italy (-30,365; -47.4%) due to the simultaneous expiration of a large number of permits at the end of the month, linked to the annual permit renewal procedure. This was followed by the Czech Republic (-19,810; -5.0%) and Finland (-8,080; -10.2%),” the agency’s report states.
According to the report, the number of people under temporary protection increased in 14 EU countries and decreased in 13. The largest absolute increases were observed in Germany (+7,480; +0.6%), Spain (+2,665; +1.0%), and Romania (+2,125; +1.0%).
Compared to data from a year ago, the number of refugees from Ukraine under temporary protection in EU countries increased by 68,620, or 1.6%.
According to Eurostat data as of the end of March 2026, Germany, with a growing lead, remains the country with the largest number of refugees from Ukraine in the EU and the world—1,274,960 (a year earlier – 1,184,890), or 29.4% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also include Poland—997,120 (961,410 a year earlier), or 22.2%, and the Czech Republic—379,820 (365,060), or 8.8%.
Trailing far behind are Spain—262,830 (233,830 a year earlier)—and Romania—207,860 (182,840).
According to the agency’s data, compared to the population of each EU member state, the highest number of beneficiaries of temporary protection per thousand people at the end of March 2026 was observed in the Czech Republic (34.8), Poland (26.3), and Slovakia (26.2), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.6.
It is also noted that as of the end of March 2025, Ukrainian citizens accounted for over 98.4% of temporary protection beneficiaries. Adult women made up 43.3% of temporary protection recipients in the EU, children 30.1%, while adult men accounted for 26.6% of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 44.7%, children 31.8%, and adult men 23.4%; a year before that, the figures were 45.8%, 32.8%, and 21.4%, respectively.
As of the end of March 2026, there were also over 100,000 people with temporary protection status in Slovakia—142,250 (a year earlier – 132,620), the Netherlands – 137,900 (123,340), and Ireland – 120,530 (111,770)
Between 50,000 and 100,000 were in Belgium—95,550 (89,540), in Austria – 86,880 (81,230), Norway – 86,380 (80,180), Bulgaria – 82,050 (72,640), Switzerland – 72,550 (68,860), Finland – 70,830 (70,720), and France – 50,420 (56,300) (data on children in France is largely excluded – Eurostat).
In Italy, following a significant reduction by the end of March this year, only 33,720 refugees from Ukraine held temporary protection status, compared to 165,230 a year earlier.
Less than 50,000 refugees from Ukraine with this status are also present in: Denmark – 48,630 (35,520), Lithuania – 48,270 (44,230), Hungary – 44,050 (39,900), Sweden – 43,240 (27,010), Greece – 38,920 (33,250), Latvia – 31,540 (48,360), Estonia – 29,600 (33,600), Croatia – 29,230 (26,410), Cyprus – 24,890 (23,090), Iceland – 4,090 (latest data as of the end of July 2025), Luxembourg – 3,790 (3,960), Malta – 2,600 (2,280), and Liechtenstein – 920 (730)
Eurostat clarified that all the data provided relates to the granting of temporary protection pursuant to EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine in connection with Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection. On June 13, 2025, the European Council adopted a decision to extend temporary protection for these individuals from March 4, 2026, to March 4, 2027.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of April 30, 2026, was estimated at 5.213 million, and globally at 5.762 million, which is 162,000 fewer than on February 19.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data for January 2026, there were 3.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), compared to 3.340 million in July and 3.76 million in April.
In its April inflation report, the National Bank again estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2025 at 0.3 million and maintained its 2026 outflow forecast at 0.2 million. The NBU expects this trend to reverse in 2027, with an inflow of 0.1 million, and an increase to 0.5 million in 2028.
temporary protection, EU, Ukrainians
Why not all children can be removed from state custody
According to the State Service of Ukraine for Children’s Affairs, there were 59,350 orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine as of the end of 2025. This is 4% fewer than in 2024. At the same time, 2,097 prospective adoptive parents are currently registered. On average, there are about 28 children per prospective adoptive parent; however, 1,150 children were placed with new families, and another 6,600 children were placed in foster care last year. The highest number of adoptions and, at the same time, the highest number of children in state care are in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
There were 59,350 orphans and children deprived of parental care in Ukraine as of the end of 2025. This is 4% fewer than in 2024. Overall, the number of such children decreases by an average of 3% each year.
One-third of all these children—20,705—are orphans, meaning those who have lost both parents. The other children are deprived of parental care for various reasons—and by no means all of them can be legally adopted.
“Of the 60,000 children in residential care facilities, only about 5,000 have the status that allows them to be adopted. The rest are so-called social orphans: they have parents or legal guardians, but for various reasons live in institutional facilities. Consequently, they cannot formally be adopted,” notes lawyer and adoptive parent Inna Miroshnychenko
The overall picture is that the number of people wanting to adopt a child is increasing year by year. However, 2025 was an exception: the number of applicants decreased by 13% over the year. In total, 2,097 prospective adoptive parents are currently registered in Ukraine. 77% of them, or 1,619 adoptive parents, are married couples. However, there are still 479 single individuals who wish to take on the responsibility of caring for a child.
Nearly half of all applicants are people between the ages of 40 and 50. Another 41% are under 40, and only 10% are over 50.
The largest number of candidates live in Kyiv (244) and the Kyiv region (224). There are also many adoptive parents in the Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions—191 and 182 candidates, respectively.
Despite this, the number of adoptions in 2025 decreased. Last year, 1,150 children found new families. This is 10% fewer than in 2024, when a record number of children were adopted since the start of the full-scale war—1,273 children.
“The adoption procedure itself is fairly clear, understandable, and not overly complicated in formal terms, but it takes a long time. Another major barrier is the territorial system for matching children: an applicant registers in their district and receives information only about children registered there. Previously, this problem was partially solved by the Ministry of Social Policy’s database, where one could view children who had not been placed locally; however, this tool is no longer operational, and as a result, applicants often simply cannot find ‘their’ child,” explains attorney and adoptive parent Inna Miroshnychenko.
The lawyer also notes that a significant portion of the children in the system are not single children but large family groups: three, five, sometimes even more brothers and sisters. They cannot be separated, whereas most prospective adoptive parents are willing to take in one child, at most two. Only a few are willing to take three or four at once.
“Many adoptive parents are looking for a physically healthy child, of whom there are very few in the system. It is important to understand that children end up in residential care facilities not because they have it easy: they may have health or developmental issues caused by difficult conditions in their biological families and in residential care facilities. Also, for most prospective adoptive parents, the child’s age is important—they mostly look for young children of preschool age. However, most of the children in the system who are available for adoption are older children, often teenagers,” comments Inna Miroshnychenko.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has led in the number of adoptions for three years in a row—136 children found new families last year. Next are Kyiv Oblast (122 children) and Odesa Oblast (101 children). At the same time, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has the highest number of orphans and children without parental care—7,397 children.
In addition to adoption, children are also placed in foster care or under guardianship. Thus, 6,627 children found new families in this way in 2025. This is 7% less compared to 2024.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/orphans-adoption-2026
The Zaporizhzhia Metallurgical Plant “Zaporizhstal” increased its rolled steel shipments by 5.3% in January–April of this year compared to the same period last year—to 819,600 tons from 865,700 tons.
According to the company’s press release, steel production for the first four months amounted to 914,700 tons (1,018,900 tons in January–April 2025), and pig iron production to 1,012,900 tons (1,132,400 tons).
In April, Zaporizhstal produced 193,500 tons of pig iron and 156,600 tons of steel, and shipped 159,100 tons of rolled steel, whereas in the previous month it produced 316,400 tons of pig iron, 298,200 tons of steel, and shipped 254,600 tons of rolled steel.
It is explained that the decline in production figures is due to an unscheduled shutdown of the company’s production facilities caused by the Russian army’s attack on the region’s infrastructure. During the forced downtime, a series of repairs and maintenance were carried out on production units and treatment facilities to improve their operational reliability in the future.
Another press release reports that Metinvest’s Zaporizhzhia-based enterprises—Zaporizhstal, Zaporizhkox, Zaporizhrefact, and Metinvest Machinery—paid over UAH 778 million in taxes and fees to budgets at all levels in the first quarter of 2026, increasing payments by 10% compared to the same period in 2025. The largest share of payments traditionally came from the unified social contribution, personal income tax, environmental tax, and military levy.
In addition, it is emphasized that Metinvest’s enterprises consistently remain leaders in terms of taxes paid in Zaporizhzhia. UAH 250 million was allocated to local budgets in the first quarter of this year, which is 7% more than last year. Amid a full-scale war, the group in Zaporizhzhia continues to systematically support the country’s and local communities’ economies. Guided by the principles of social partnership for the sustainable development of the regions where it operates, the Company, together with its enterprises and in dialogue with the community, implements educational projects and veteran programs, and participates in the restoration of infrastructure damaged by shelling.
“Since the start of the full-scale war, Zaporizhstal and other Metinvest enterprises in Zaporizhzhia have contributed over UAH 14 billion to Ukraine’s economy,” noted Taras Shevchenko, acting CEO of the steel plant.
In total, including associated companies and joint ventures, the group paid 4.3 billion UAH in taxes and fees to Ukrainian budgets at all levels in January–March 2026. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, including the results of the first quarter of 2026, the company’s total contribution to the country’s economy amounts to approximately 78 billion UAH.
As reported, in 2025, Zaporizhstal increased its rolled steel output by 15.2% compared to the previous year—to 2,794,600 tons from 2,426,700 tons. Steel production amounted to 3,212,200 tons (in 2024 – 2,890,800 tons), and pig iron production – 3,567,800 tons (3,106,300 tons).
In 2024, Zaporizhstal increased rolled steel output by 18.1% compared to 2023—to 2,426,700 tons from 2,054,700 tons—and steel output by 17.2%, to 2,890,800 tons, and pig iron by 14.2%, to 3,106,300 tons.
Zaporizhstal is one of Ukraine’s largest industrial enterprises, whose products are in high demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
Zaporizhstal is a joint venture of the Metinvest Group, whose main shareholders are PJSC System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Steel Limited (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of the Metinvest Group.
The US dollar-to-euro exchange rate at the end of 2026 will be $1.16/EUR1; the Cabinet of Ministers approved this updated estimate in the draft amendments to Ukraine’s state budget (No. 15224), whereas it had previously projected it at $1.08/EUR1.
As noted in the explanatory note to the draft, these changes have affected the assessment of the maximum levels of public debt: it will decrease by only UAH 332.2 billion, although financing of the state budget through debt operations will be reduced by UAH 651.5 billion thanks to the attraction of €13.2 billion in new budgetary support from the European Union under the Ukraine Support Loan.
According to the draft, it is proposed to set the public debt ceiling at the end of this year at 10 trillion 145. 6 billion UAH and the ceiling for state-guaranteed debt at 464.6 billion UAH, with budget revenues of 5 trillion 195.9 billion UAH and expenditures of 6 trillion 407.1 billion UAH.
As reported, in the calculations for Ukraine’s 2026 state budget, the government for the first time included a separate indicator for the projected average annual euro-to-hryvnia exchange rate—49.4 UAH/EUR1—in addition to the traditional average annual dollar exchange rate, which the Cabinet of Ministers expects to be 45.7 UAH/$1 this year.
In recent years, the share of euro-denominated obligations in Ukraine’s national debt has grown significantly, as the EU has become Ukraine’s main donor, while financial support from the U.S. has declined.
Public and state-guaranteed debt for the first quarter of 2026 increased by 190.4 billion UAH, or 2.1%, to 9.233 trillion UAH, but decreased by $2.5 billion, or 1.2%, to $210.8 billion in dollar terms.
The share of debt in euros as of the end of March this year was 44.08%, while in dollars it was 22.74%, in hryvnia 20.94%, and in IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 9.12%.
In its updated April Inflation Report, the National Bank of Ukraine projects an average annual dollar-to-euro exchange rate of $1.18/EUR1, which corresponds to the current rate, compared to $1.13/EUR1 in 2025.
The official hryvnia-to-dollar exchange rate currently stands at 43.8033 UAH/$1, and the hryvnia-to-euro rate at 51.5433 UAH/$1.
FC Shakhtar was prematurely crowned Ukrainian football champion after the results of the 27th round of the Ukrainian Premier League, Suspilne Sport reports.
This came after Shakhtar’s 4-0 victory over SK Poltava, as their lead over their closest rivals, Polissya, is now 11 points with three games left in the championship.
This is the club’s 16th league title and its first in the last two years.
