Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

The Ukrainian refugee crisis demands new solutions

Nature Human Behaviour volume 6, page 750 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

To the editor — The mobility of refugees caused by the unprovoked, full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine is distinct from mass movements of people previously experienced in Europe, including after the end of World War II. Within the 7 weeks of the war, the Russian invasion has forced 4.6 million people to flee the country and displaced more than 7.1 million people within Ukraine1.

Several factors have contributed to the rapid rise in the number of Ukrainian refugees. First, the character of the Russian attacks proved crucial in mobilizing people to flee Ukraine. Simultaneous assaults from land and air; extended blockades of cities without provision of food or water; the use of indiscriminate weapons; and the reported killing, rape and torture of civilians (such as the recent widely reported atrocities in the city of Bucha) all dramatically raised the individual risk of losing one’s life or being subject to violence and humiliation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. UNHCR. Ukraine Situation Flash Update #8. data2.unhcr.org, https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/92011 (13 April 2022).

  2. Eurostat. How many Ukrainians hold an EU residence permit? ec.europa.eu, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20220407-2 (7 April 2022).

  3. Fedyuk, O. & Kindler, M. (eds) Ukrainian Migration to the European Union. Lessons from Migration Studies (Springer, 2016).

  4. Martini, L. S. Movement to action: how Russia’s war on Ukraine could reshape EU migration policy. ecfr.eu, https://ecfr.eu/article/movement-to-action-how-russias-war-on-ukraine-could-reshape-eu-migration-policy/ (8 April 2022).

  5. Council of the EU. Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of 4 March 2022 establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection, O. J. L71, 4.3.2022, 1–6 (2022).

  6. Schiffling, S. & Piotrowicz, W.D. Ukraine crisis: why you should donate money rather than supplies. The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/ukraine-crisis-why-you-should-donate-money-rather-than-supplies-178245 (3 March 2022).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Marta Jaroszewicz, Jan Grzymski & Mateusz Krępa

Authors
  1. Marta Jaroszewicz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jan Grzymski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mateusz Krępa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marta Jaroszewicz.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jaroszewicz, M., Grzymski, J. & Krępa, M. The Ukrainian refugee crisis demands new solutions. Nat Hum Behav 6, 750 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01361-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01361-3

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing