In 2022, according to preliminary estimates, about 330,000 illegal border crossings were detected at the external borders of the EU. This is the highest figure since 2016 and 64% more than last year.. Frontex reports..

After a pandemic-induced low in 2020, there has been a sharp increase in the number of illegal entries for the second year in a row. The Western Balkan route accounts for almost half of the total. Syrians, Afghans and Tunisians together accounted for 47% of identified individuals in 2022. Number of Syrians roughly doubled to 94,000.

Women accounted for less than one in ten detections, while the proportion of minors dropped slightly to around 9 percent.

Separately, almost 13 million Ukrainian refugees were recorded for entry at the external land borders of the EU from Ukraine and Moldova between February 24, 2022 and the end of the year. In the same period, 10 million citizens of Ukraine were registered to leave the same sections of the border..

Last year, EU and Schengen countries faced unprecedented challenges at external borders. These have ranged from organized migration by Belarus starting in 2021 to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.. The war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine provoked a record number of refugees who arrived in the EU countries.

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In some countries, humanitarian programs for Ukrainians are being completed, and the refugees of the first wave are forced to temporarily turn into emigrants: independently look for housing and pay for it, look for work, arrange children in kindergartens, schools. It is not easy. Will they return to Ukraine after the war? Read about it in the article by Oksana Pankova "