The idea to create a ministry responsible for the return of Ukrainian citizens from abroad came from the president. According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone will not be able to cope with this task. The president expects a decision on the new ministry to be made in autumn, he said in response to a question from the editor-in-chief of LB.ua at the Ukraine 2024 forum.
The return of Ukrainians is necessary, in particular, to ensure the country's economy after the war. There are currently 10.8 million pensioners in Ukraine, and 7.5 million Ukrainians are abroad.
‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not be able to keep 7.5 million Ukrainians. I discussed this idea not with Dmytro Kuleba, but with the Prime Minister of Ukraine. Because this is about the government, and he is the head of our government. We discussed that this is a very difficult mission for any ministry. I'm not talking about people or personalities here, but about the institutionalisation of this process,’ he said.
The President stressed that if we do not bring all taxpayers out of the shadows and if we do not bring Ukrainians home, we will face a serious challenge after the war - how to feed our pensioners.
‘That is why we need to bring back the adult population to Ukraine, bring back children and students. Without coercion. We need to create all the conditions for them to want to do so. We need to communicate with them,’ he said.
One of the tasks of the new ministry will be to find jobs for these Ukrainian citizens. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not doing this now.
In addition, it is necessary to counteract Russian agents working with Ukrainians abroad.
‘People are being intercepted. They are changing their thinking, their approach, who the enemy is in this war,’ the president said.