Berlin official: Most Ukrainian refugees in Germany prefer to stay

Majority of Ukrainian refugees currently residing in Germany do not wish to return to their homeland and prefer to remain in the country, said head of the Refugee Affairs Department in the Berlin state government Markus Siebert.

According to Siebert at present, the majority, which accounts for 65%, says: "We are staying here. We are settling in. End of story," Caliber.Az reports via German media.

Siebert highlighted that the shift in the situation regarding Ukrainian refugees is evident to the authorities in Berlin. A clear example of this change, he noted, is the growing demand for German language courses among Ukrainians.

Currently, between 50,000 and 60,000 Ukrainian citizens are living in Berlin.

To recap, over the first part of 2024, no fewer than 6.168 million Ukrainian refugees had been registered across Europe, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This conflict has led to largest displacement crisis since World War II, with almost a third of Ukraine's population forced to flee their homes.

An additional 571,000 Ukrainians have sought refuge outside of Europe, bringing the global total to 6.74 million. Meanwhile, 3.7 million people remain displaced within Ukraine itself, as reported by the United Nations.

Before the conflict with Russia began in February 2022, Ukraine had a population of 43.5 million. It now has just 37.9 million inhabitants.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports that the war has claimed the lives of 11,662 civilians between February 24, 2022 and mid-August 2024, including 639 children. In addition, 24,207 civilians have been injured, with 1,577 of them being children.

Moreover, "the war has devastated the Ukrainian economy, reversing years of development and pushing nearly 25% of the population into poverty."

By Aghakazim Guliyev