On 3 February, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Anton Demokhin took part in a joint briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The event, in which the Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, Denys Uliutin, also took part, was focused on UNHCR’s activities in Ukraine in the context of responding to challenges caused by the ongoing armed aggression of the Russian Federation against our state, as well as on the presentation of forecasting models for the return and reintegration of forcibly displaced Ukrainians.
In his remarks, Anton Demokhin expressed gratitude to UNHCR for its significant contribution to supporting millions of people who were forced to leave their homes as a result of the full-scale war launched by the Russian aggressor against Ukraine.
Addressing the audience, the Deputy Minister noted that Russia’s armed aggression has already led to one of the largest humanitarian and migration crises in recent history. In this context, Anton Demokhin stressed that the situation continues to deteriorate due to daily attacks on critical and energy-generating infrastructure, adding that, according to UN estimates, at least 10.8 million Ukrainian citizens will require humanitarian assistance this year.
“Today, it is critically important to ensure further consolidation of international efforts to enable the fastest possible restoration of our country’s energy-generating capacity. We count on continued support for the operational activities of UNHCR and other UN system organisations in Ukraine in providing humanitarian assistance to all those in need, and above all to people in the most affected frontline regions of Ukraine,” the Deputy Minister emphasised.
Anton Demokhin also highlighted the level of cooperation between Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and UNHCR and expressed hope for the continuation of fruitful cooperation on the modernisation and development of the ‘e-Consul’ information and communication system and related services, in order to ensure the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ capacity to provide high-quality services to Ukrainian citizens currently abroad.
In his remarks, Denys Uliutin emphasised that for millions of Ukrainians, the war has shifted from an emergency phase to a state of protracted vulnerability, requiring a change in approaches to assistance.
“For many people, this is no longer a short-term crisis but a situation of prolonged vulnerability. This particularly concerns internally displaced persons, older people, persons with disabilities, and families with children. Our key challenge today is to ensure continuity of support so that people do not fall into a gap between humanitarian assistance and national social systems. For the Government of Ukraine, this is a clear principle: humanitarian assistance and social policy must function as a single system, not in parallel,” the Minister noted.
During the briefing, participants also paid special attention to the presentation of a new analytical mechanism developed by UNHCR in cooperation with Brunel University of London, which makes it possible to analyse potential scenarios for the return of forcibly displaced persons and to take this data into account when planning recovery and reintegration processes.
Commenting on UNHCR programmes in Ukraine and the key value of the data obtained through the forecasting model, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth stressed: “Talking about return and recovery at a time when Ukraine is under daily attack is not a paradox, but a manifestation of solidarity and a reflection of the aspirations of Ukrainians. They are ready to rebuild, reunite, bring children back to school, and revive their communities. UNHCR’s forecasting model does not predict the future, but it provides a reliable analytical foundation for planning recovery processes, taking into account possible return scenarios, the composition of returnees, and both urgent and long-term needs.”
The event underscored the importance of continued international support for Ukraine and the uninterrupted activities of UN system agencies aimed at addressing the consequences of Russian aggression.