The passenger flow across the Ukrainian border during the week of December 21 to 27 increased by another 12.5% compared to the previous week, reaching 657,000, primarily due to a sharp rise during the weekend before Christmas, when it peaked at 133-136 thousand people per day.
According to data from the State Border Guard Service on Facebook, the number of exits rose from 294,000 to 325,000, while entries increased from 290,000 to 332,000.
At the same time, the number of vehicles passing through border checkpoints decreased from 134,000 to 117,000, while the flow of vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo dropped from 633 to 471.
"We advise citizens crossing the border at the 'Krakovec', 'Ugryniv', and 'Rava-Ruska' checkpoints that there is a significant buildup of vehicles exiting Ukraine," the State Border Guard Service noted on Sunday.
As of 18:00 at the border with Poland, queues were reported at the checkpoints (PP) 'Krakovec' (80 cars), 'Ustyluh' (65), 'Ugryniv' (30), and 'Rava-Ruska' (10).
At the border with Hungary, the longest queue was at PP 'Tysa' with 15 cars, while 'Luzhanka' had 10, and both 'Kosino' and 'Vylok' had 5 vehicles each.
At PP 'Maly Berezny' on the border with Slovakia, there were 25 cars waiting, while in 'Uzhhorod' there were 6 buses.
The total number of crossings at the border by people in the fourth week of this winter is higher than last year: during the same week last year, 280,000 people left Ukraine, while 302,000 entered, and the flow of vehicles was 110,000. In the previous year, the passenger flow decreased by 3.6% during this week, and then by another 18.4% the following week.
As reported, the influx of refugees from Ukraine that began on May 10, 2022, with the onset of war, shifted to an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022, totaling 409,000 people. However, since late September, possibly influenced by news of mobilization in Russia and "pseudo-referendums" in occupied territories, as well as mass shelling of energy infrastructure, there has been a consistent excess of those leaving over those entering. This temporarily ceased in the second half of December and early January during the holiday period, but then resumed, totaling 223,000 people from late September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war.
In the second year of the full-scale war, the number of exits from Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of entries by 25,000, and since the beginning of the third year, by another 191,000.
As noted by Deputy Minister of Economy Serhiy Sobolev in early March of last year, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home contributes 0.5% to GDP. The Ministry of Economy's macroeconomic forecast for this year anticipates the return of 1.5 million people to Ukraine.
At the same time, the National Bank, in its October inflation report, again worsened the forecast for outflows from Ukraine this year from 0.4 million to 0.5 million. In absolute terms, this indicates an increase in the number of migrants remaining abroad this year to 6.8 million. Meanwhile, the outflow estimate for next year has been reduced from 0.3 million to 0.2 million.
According to updated data from UNHCR, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of December 16 this year was estimated at 6.254 million, and globally at 6.814 million, which is 28,000 more than on November 18 of this year.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data from August of this year, there were 3.669 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), which is 121,000 more than in April of this year.
According to regional authorities, which are referenced by the UN, more than 128,000 people have left the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine since August 1, including 24,000 who fled from active combat, while about 330,000 remain in the region, including approximately 63,000 in areas of active combat.
In the Sumy region, authorities estimate that from August 1 to October 3, 36,000 people were evacuated, including 6,000 children.
Crossings of Ukraine's western border, thousands:
| Date | out of Ukraine | including to Poland | into Ukraine | including Ukrainians | number of cars, thousands | humanitarian vehicles |
| 27.12 | 49 | 31 | 35 | 30 | 15 | 77 |
| 26.12 | 37 | 22 | 28 | 24 | 13 | 40 |
| 25.12 | 26 | 15 | 27 | 24 | 10 | 67 |
| 24.12 | 33 | 20 | 41 | 37 | 13 | 59 |
| 23.12 | 51 | 33 | 61 | 57 | 19 | 73 |
| 22.12 | 63 | 40 | 73 | 67 | 23 | 80 |
| 21.12 | 66 | 41 | 67 | 60 | 24 | 75 |
| 20.12 | 55 | 35 | 47 | 33 | 20 | 108 |
| 19.12 | 46 | 29 | 41 | 37 | 19 | 96 |
| 18.12 | 43 | 26 | 39 | 35 | 19 | 76 |
| 17.12 | 37 | 22 | 37 | 33 | 18 | 65 |
| 16.12 | 33 | 22 | 41 | 38 | 18 | 83 |
| 15.12 | 38 | 23 | 45 | 40 | 19 | 73 |
| 14.12 | 42 | 25 | 40 | 35 | 21 | 132 |
Data: State Border Guard Service