Ukrainian government fails to track its citizens abroad - migration policy expert

He said this on Espreso TV.

"There may be several purposes for creating such a ministry. One of them is to unite Ukrainians for the sake of Ukraine's victory. That is, to make Ukrainians abroad contribute more to the country's economy and its victory. The second goal may be to work on the return of Ukrainians who are now abroad," said Haidutskyi.

According to the migration policy expert, in order to return Ukrainians from abroad, it is necessary to solve a basic issue: to determine where Ukrainians are and what they are doing. In 2021, a year before the outbreak of war, Ukraine had data on only 10% of its citizens living abroad. Only this share of Ukrainians was registered with the consulate.

"The Ukrainian government does not know where Ukrainians are in the world, in which countries they live, what they do, and how much they earn. These are primitive and simple issues that need to be addressed first," emphasized Haidutskyi.

• David Arakhamia said that at a meeting of the Servant of the People party faction, they discussed the creation of a new institution in the government - the Ministry of Ukrainians’ Return.
• Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said that such a ministry should be created to implement a strategy to encourage people to return home.