Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border in the second week of spring, from March 8 to 14, decreased by a total of 3% in both directions to 427 thousand in comparison with the previous week.
According to the State Border Guard Service’s Facebook page, the number of exit crossings decreased from 222,000 to 216,000, while the number of entry crossings decreased from 218,000 to 211,000.
The number of vehicles crossing the checkpoints decreased from 117,000 to 115,000, while the flow of vehicles with humanitarian cargo decreased from 621,000 to 543,000.
According to the State Border Guard Service, as of 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, there were small queues of 10 cars at the Uzhhorod checkpoint on the border with Slovakia, at the Ustyluh checkpoint on the border with Poland, and at the Luzhanka and Vylok checkpoints on the border with Hungary.
In addition, at the Krakivets checkpoint, there is an accumulation of vehicles entering Ukraine, which may lead to an increase in waiting time, the border guards added.
The total number of people crossing the border this week in 2025 is slightly higher than last year: 209 thousand people left and 207 thousand entered Ukraine in the same seven days, with a traffic flow of 116 thousand. Last year, in the third week of spring, passenger traffic increased by 7.9%, and with the onset of spring school holidays next week, it increased by another 19.8%.
As reported, on May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the outbreak of war, was replaced by an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022 and amounted to 409 thousand people. However, since the end of September, possibly under the influence of news about mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then massive shelling of energy infrastructure, the number of people leaving has been exceeding the number of people entering. In total, from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war, it reached 223 thousand people.
In the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25 thousand, while in the third year – by 187 thousand, and since the beginning of the fourth year – by another 26 thousand.
As Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP.
In its January inflation report, the National Bank estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (0.315 million according to the State Border Guard Service). In absolute terms, the number of migrants staying abroad will increase to 6.8 million in 2024.
The NBU also maintained its outflow forecast for 2025 at 0.2 million.
According to updated data from the UNHCR, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of February 19, 2025, was estimated at 6.346 million, and 6.907 million worldwide, which is 43 thousand more than as of January 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, 3.665 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), including approximately 160 thousand people, were displaced from the frontline areas in the east and south between May and October 2024 due to the intensification of hostilities.
