On Thursday, October 8, a new border crossing, “Bila Tserkva–Sighetu Marmatiei,” began operations on the border between Ukraine and Romania, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, Ukraine’s Minister of Recovery, Infrastructure, and Transport.
“This is the first new road crossing between our countries in Zakarpattia in nearly 20 years,” Kalashnik emphasized in a post on his Telegram channel.
He noted that this is the region’s third road border crossing with Romania. An additional route for people and businesses, an opportunity to redistribute traffic flows and reduce the burden on existing crossings.
“It is of particular importance for residents of the Solotvyno community, where Bila Tserkva is located. A large community of ethnic Romanians lives here, and many families have relatives on the other side of the border. The new crossing will make these trips—to parents, children, and loved ones—easier. It is precisely these daily needs of people that should determine how we develop our infrastructure,” the minister noted.
Currently, the border crossing can process up to 400 passenger cars per day. To launch it, an access road was built on the Ukrainian side, and modular infrastructure for border and customs control was installed. Romanian partners built the border crossing and a new bridge over the Tisa River.
“We’re opening traffic on the temporary infrastructure so that people can use the crossing right now. This is the first phase of the project. Next, we plan to build a full-scale complex for processing trucks and buses. Once the work is completed, it will be able to process up to 360 trucks and 50 buses per day,” Kalashnik concluded.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine recorded more than 37 million border crossings in 2025. The number of entries and exits is almost equal: 18.4 million times versus 18.7 million. During the year, 290,300 Ukrainians traveled abroad and never returned. This is 1.5 times less than in 2024. In total, 3.1 million citizens have officially left Ukraine over the 4 years of full-scale migration. Of these, 72% left in the first year of the great war.
37,088,261 official border crossings were recorded in Ukraine in 2025. People entered Ukraine 18.4 million times and left it 18.7 million times.
86% of crossings were made by citizens. In general, Ukrainians traveled more often: last year, the border was crossed about 2.7 million times per month. For comparison, in previous years, the figure was lower and remained at 2.5 million.
Despite the fact that the number of border crossings is increasing year by year, the number of conditional non-returns – that is, the difference between citizens who left and those who returned – is gradually decreasing. During the year, 16.1 million Ukrainians left Ukraine, and 15.8 million returned. The difference is 290 thousand citizens who did not return. This is 1.5 times less than in 2024, when almost 443,000 did not return home.
In total, 3.1 million citizens have officially left the government-controlled territory of Ukraine and have not returned in the four years of full-scale war. 72% of them did so in the first year of the full-scale invasion.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/ukrainians-emigration-trend-2025-12
Bill No. 13673, which proposes to increase liability for illegal border crossing, does not yet have real enforcement mechanisms, according to Sergey Derevyanko, a lawyer with the Barristers law firm.
“The bill is incomplete, in particular because it is unclear how, for example, those who have left the temporarily occupied territories outside Ukraine and cannot return to their country for various reasons, such as serious illness or caring for a close relative with a disability, should act. According to the bill, such persons must return to Ukraine before the law comes into force or within three months after that, otherwise they will be held criminally liable, which, of course, violates the rights of such persons,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
Derevyanko also noted that “it is unclear what to do with those people who, possibly without the relevant documents, left Ukraine at the beginning of the war for certain reasons and subsequently did not and do not have the opportunity to return to Ukraine in the near future.”
“This raises a number of questions, in particular, how and to whom these people, while abroad, should report their circumstances, given that changes to the Criminal Code regarding illegal crossing of the state border provide for exemption from criminal liability only on condition that persons who have been outside the country for three months from the moment of crossing the state border have returned to the territory of Ukraine and, before being notified of their suspicion of committing this criminal offense, have voluntarily reported what happened to the law enforcement agency,”
The lawyer also noted that the bill proposes to abolish criminal liability for violating the procedure for moving goods to or from the area of the anti-terrorist operation, “which is logical, since martial law has been introduced in Ukraine and, accordingly, the anti-terrorist operation is not yet being conducted.”
In addition, the bill provides for liability for obstructing the development of border infrastructure (obstructing the construction, development, or destruction/damage of engineering and technical or fortification structures, fences, border signs, border clearings, checkpoints across the state border of Ukraine, etc.).
Derevianko also drew attention to the bill’s provision on liability for conscripts, persons liable for military service, or reservists who violate the period of stay outside Ukraine established by law.
In addition, the bill proposes to increase liability for the illegal transfer of persons across the state border of Ukraine in conditions of martial law or a state of emergency.
“The purpose of the bill is to prevent evasion of conscription for military service through mobilization by ‘fleeing’ abroad, and to provide conscripts with the opportunity to return to Ukraine. If the bill is adopted, after three months, persons of draft age who illegally crossed the state border during martial law and did not return from abroad will be held criminally liable,” he said.
Commenting on what is meant by the “period of stay outside Ukraine under martial law established by law” specified in the bill, Derevyanko explained that “the current legislation does not provide a clear definition, but the terms of stay outside Ukraine for certain categories of citizens during martial law and a state of emergency are defined by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 57 of January 27, 1995.”
“As an example, according to the aforementioned resolution, athletes included in the national teams of Ukraine may stay abroad continuously for no more than 30 calendar days from the date of crossing the state border, but not less than the duration of the event specified in the Unified Calendar Plan of Physical Culture, Health, Sports Events, and Sports Competitions of Ukraine for the corresponding year,” he said.
“It turns out that, as of today, there are no mechanisms for implementing the bill,” the lawyer concluded.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted bill No. 13673 to the Verkhovna Rada, which proposes to increase the liability for illegal crossing of the state border.
It is noted that while in 2021 border guards recorded just over 3,000 illegal crossings of the state border of Ukraine, in 2022 such offenses more than doubled, in 2023 there were almost 10,000, in 2024, there will be more than 20,000, and in the first quarter of this year, almost 4,678 persons liable for military service were detained, which is 10% more than in the same period last year (4,539 persons).
The bill proposes introducing a penalty in the form of a fine ranging from 119,000 to 170,000 hryvnia or imprisonment for up to three years. For conscripts, persons liable for military service, or reservists who have exceeded the permitted period of stay abroad during martial law, a fine of 34,000 to 51,000 hryvnia or imprisonment for a term of three to five years is provided.
A fine of between 17,000 and 85,000 hryvnia or restriction or deprivation of liberty for up to three years is also provided for the deliberate damage of border infrastructure.
At the same time, the bill contains a provision exempting citizens from liability if they return to their homeland within a certain period and voluntarily report to law enforcement agencies with a statement about the criminal offense they have committed.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs noted on its Telegram channel on Friday that the draft law had been prepared by the ministry.
“Today, unfortunately, we are seeing mass attempts to evade mobilization by illegally leaving the country. As practice shows, administrative fines do not deter violators,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs explains that the draft proposes transferring the consideration of administrative cases of illegal border crossing to border guards, because it is faster and more effective.
As clarified to Interfax-Ukraine by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, cases of this category are currently handled by courts, and decisions are often delayed.
How many Ukrainians have not returned home since the beginning of the year
The State Border Guard Service recorded more than 7.8 million border crossings by Ukrainians in the first 4 months of 2024. This is significantly less than in the same period last year. About 69 thousand people left and did not return.
Ukrainians crossed the border 7.8 million times in the first months of this year. Overall, citizens began to travel abroad 10% less often.
Almost 69 thousand citizens – 1.5% of the total number of people who left the country – have not returned to the country since the beginning of the year. In April, for the first time since the beginning of the year, more citizens returned home than left – by 56 thousand. Overall, this year the number of those who have not returned has slightly increased compared to last year – 62 thousand Ukrainians did not return.
For comparison, 14.1 million Ukrainians left Ukraine last year. Of these, only 142 thousand remained abroad. This is 15 times less than in the first year of the full-scale war.
It is worth noting that the difference between those who left and entered Ukraine does not give an accurate understanding of the number of people who emigrated.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/emigration-trend-2024-4
