Passenger traffic across Ukraine’s western border fell by 9.3%—to 685,000—during the week of August 29 through September 4, coinciding with the start of the new school year, according to daily statistics from the State Border Guard Service monitored by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to the data, the number of outbound border crossings this week decreased to 344,000 from 364,000 the previous week, while the number of inbound crossings fell to 341,000 from 391,000.
The number of vehicles passing through border checkpoints also decreased to 137,000 from 145,000, while the number of vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo fell to 416 from 433.
The highest outbound traffic was recorded on Saturday (56,000 per day), and the highest inbound traffic on Sunday (68,000), while the lowest outbound traffic was on Tuesday (42,000), and the lowest inbound traffic was on Tuesday and Thursday (39,000 each).
According to the State Border Guard Service, as of 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, the largest number of passenger cars waiting to cross the border with Poland were at the “Ustyluh” border crossing point—50. Shorter lines were observed at the “Ugryniv” checkpoint—20 vehicles—and the “Krakivets” checkpoint—10 vehicles, where 4 buses had also accumulated.
At the border with Slovakia, the line at the “Maly Berezny” checkpoint consisted of 20 cars, and at the “Uzhhorod” checkpoint—30.
The largest number of passenger cars was waiting to exit at the border with Hungary: at the “Luzhanka” border crossing – 40, at the “Tisa” border crossing – 25, at “Kosyno” – 20, and at the “Dzvinkove” and “Vilok” border crossings – 10 each.
At the border with Romania, 15 cars had accumulated at the “Porubne” checkpoint, while there were no lines at the border with Moldova.
Last year, passenger traffic across the border during this week fell by 10%, but was slightly higher—692,000; however, outbound traffic significantly exceeded inbound traffic—by 32,000 compared to 3,000 this year.
The following week last year, passenger traffic fell by another 12.4%, and then remained at around 600,000 for two weeks.
As reported, starting May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine—which began with the start of the war—was replaced by an inflow that lasted until September 23, 2022, totaling 409,000 people. However, starting in late September—possibly influenced by news of mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, followed by massive shelling of energy infrastructure—the number of people leaving exceeded the number of those entering. In total, from the end of September 2022 until the first anniversary of the full-scale war, this figure reached 223,000 people.
In the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings out of Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of crossings into the country by 25,000; in the third year, by 187,000; in the fourth year, by 221,000; and by 44,000 since the start of the fifth year—31,000 of which have occurred since the beginning of summer.
In its July inflation report, the National Bank maintained its estimate of 0.3 million people migrating from Ukraine last year due to the deterioration of the security situation at the end of the year and the easing of exit rules for young people, but noted that this figure would be less than 0.5 million in 2024. The NBU continues to forecast a net outflow of 0.2 million in 2026, while net returns, according to its forecast, will begin in 2027 and amount to about 0.1 million people, increasing to 0.5 million people in 2028.
According to UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of June 30, 2026, stood at 5.159 million, and globally at 5.687 million, compared to 5.213 million and 5.687 million, respectively, as of April 30.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data for July 2026, there were 3.80 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), compared to 3.70 million in January of this year and 3.34 million in July 2025.
BORDER, MIGRATION, PASSENGER TRAFFIC, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, UKRAINE
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