Peculiarities of Ukrainian citizens’ migration to Poland and Russia in 2014–2019

Abstract

For the last five years, Ukrainians have been leaving their own state en masse. Some are looking for better living conditions, the opportunity to earn more money, get an education, and others are forced to save their own lives from the hostilities in the east. Objective coverage of migration processes is hindered by the lack of reliable statistical information, especially in the case of official Ukrainian statistics, which try to lower the migration rates of Ukrainians. In the article, the author attempts to analyze the social and economic causes of mass migration of Ukrainians to Poland and Russia. These are the countries which receive the largest number of Ukrainians. The state actually creates living conditions that lead to the partial physical destruction of Ukrainians, and people are forced to search for a better life outside Ukraine. Ukraine is in a situation of a civil turmoil which is reflected in multidirectional forced migration. In turn, Poland and Russia are receiving an immigration flow that corresponds to the logic of their demographic development, does not require significant costs to integrate migrants, and is an almost ideal demographic resource in terms of ethnic and professional characteristics. Due to migration, Ukraine is losing the most capable and highly qualified part of the population, which threatens its internal and external security, and even the existence of Ukraine as a state.