Among Ukrainian war refugees, the number of people fleeing due to shortages of electricity, heating or water is rising, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said to the German editorial network. This trend is linked to Russia’s targeted attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and the current cold spell.
A UNHCR spokesperson told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” that, in recent months, they have not seen an increase in the number of people leaving Ukraine. “In December and the first weeks of January, cross‑border movements actually fell” he added.
Most people who have fled from Ukraine did so in 2022, but a higher share now cites not only the security situation but also the lack of power, heat or water as decisive reasons for leaving.
A spokeswoman for the German Federal Ministry of the Interior told the newspapers that there are “no indications of a significant increase in Ukrainian arrivals in Germany that can be attributed to the intensification of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure or to the acute cold wave”. She noted, as a spokesperson for the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) had said, that Ukrainian citizens can stay visa‑free in the EU for 90 days without registering.
The BAMF spokesperson also reported to the RND that, since September, 2,000 to 3,000 Ukrainians arrive each week, sometimes exceeding 4,000. This rise is partly due to the fact that conscripts are now allowed to leave.
