Background
As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth year, some 3.8 million people are displaced within Ukraine and nearly 5.9 million Ukrainians are refugees abroad. Ukraine’s recovery depends in part on their sustainable return and reintegration. While it remains unclear how many will want to return, and how, the issue of return needs to be dealt with. How can host states like Norway balance the need for refugee protection against the need to facilitate sustainable return?
Objective
The more the war intensifies in Ukraine the larger the country’s recovery needs grow. Meeting Ukraine’s reconstruction needs depends in part on their safe and dignified return, but a prolonged war makes return intentions unlikely. Ukrainian Returns is a research dissemination project which sheds light on the legal, political and humanitarian aspects of return and reintegration in Ukraine.
Approach
The project includes two conferences, a series of ten digital seminars, a diaspora-organized seminar, one legal expert network, a national lecture tour in Norway by Ukrainian scholars, and two reports. It looks at what return means for Ukrainians who have fled their homes, for host communities in Norway and Europe, and for Ukraine. The Institute for Social Research (ISF) coordinates Ukrainian Returns in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), The Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) and the Norwegian-Ukrainian Advocacy Hub (NUAH). The project lasts for the period 2026–2027 and is funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills as part of the Nansen Support Programme for Ukraine.
