Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border during the week of May 24-30 increased by 1.4% to 506,000 with the approach of summer, according to data from the State Border Service on Facebook.
According to them, the outbound flow even decreased from 254,000 to 253,000, while the inbound flow increased from 245,000 to 253,000.
The number of vehicles that passed through checkpoints this week remained at around 124,000, and the flow of vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo also remained almost unchanged at 524.
At the same time, on Saturday, May 31, after the last bells of the school year, the State Border Service recorded an increase in the outbound flow to 47,000 people compared to 40,000 last Saturday.
According to the agency, on Sunday morning, there was a buildup of vehicles leaving Ukraine at the Ugriniv and Krakivets checkpoints on the Polish border, and at the Shehyni and Krakivets checkpoints, there was also a buildup of vehicles entering Ukraine.
To avoid traffic jams and save time, the State Border Service recommends choosing alternative checkpoints (PP): “Nizhankovychi,” “Smilnytsia,” “Hrushiv,” or “Rava-Ruska,” and reminds that due to large-scale repair work at the “Shehyni” checkpoint, traffic is temporarily complicated, leading to increased waiting times.
As of 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, there were also significant queues at the border with Slovakia at the Uzhhorod checkpoint – 25 cars, and at the border with Romania at the Porubne checkpoint – 30 cars.
As for the border with Hungary, 10 vehicles were waiting to cross at the Tisa, Kosino, Luzhanka, and Vylok checkpoints, and 5 at the Dzvinkove checkpoint.
The total number of people crossing the border this year is almost the same as last year: during the same seven days, 258,000 people left Ukraine and 243,000 entered, but the flow of cars was lower – 115,000.
Last year, a significant summer increase in passenger traffic began in the first week of June and lasted for five weeks in a row.
As reported, from May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the start of the war, was replaced by an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022, and amounted to 409,000 people. However, since the end of 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 people entering. In total, from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war, it reached 223,000 people.
During the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25,000, during the third year by 187,000, and since the beginning of the fourth year by 30,000.
As Deputy Minister of Economy 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 April inflation report, the National Bank again estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (according to the State Border Service – 0.315 million). In absolute terms, this means an increase in the number of migrants remaining abroad to 6.8 million in 2024. The NBU also maintained its forecast for the outflow in 2025 at 0.2 million.
According to updated data from the UNHCR, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of April 17, 2025, was estimated at 6.358 million, and worldwide at 6.918 million, which is 15,000 fewer than on March 20.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data at the end of last year, there were 3.669 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
