Some Ukrainian Refugees Are Returning Home, Despite the Risks

A growing number of travelers coming through the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and other transit hubs are returning home rather than fleeing.

There are still far more citizens leaving their homes. But according to travelers and officials, the surge in returnees reflects a growing belief that the war could last years, and a willingness to live with a measure of danger rather than live as a refugee in another country, bereft of home and community.

It also highlights the difficulties European countries have had providing for Ukrainians in the continent’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

“The statistics have changed a lot recently,” Yurii Buchko, the deputy military administrator for Lviv, said in an interview. “In the beginning of the war 10 times the number of people left as those who returned.” Now, he said, on some days half of those crossing the border in Lviv Province were returning home rather than leaving.
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@nytimes