An unexpected phenomenon is observed in Przemysl near the border. Thousands of Ukrainian refugees are returning home, despite the fact that Russia continues to wage war against Ukraine. The latest data from the Polish border service show that on Monday about 12 thousand people returned to Ukrainian territory, and on Tuesday - 13 thousand. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 370,000 people have left.

Politico writes about this, adding that the reasons are very different.. Some refugees ran out of money and others were unable to find affordable housing outside of special camps. In Poland, which has hosted some 2.3 million Ukrainians, delays in receiving aid from the government have forced some people to go home.

In Przemysl, long queues formed at the railway station in front of trains going to Lviv, Kyiv and Odessa. Although immediately after the start of the war they returned to Ukraine empty.

" We left a week ago and now we're back. My husband volunteered for the army. And there is no one in our house now,” said 42-year-old Lilia Shuba from Vynohradiv.

She and her three-year-old son Alexander spent 13 hours at the Hungarian border on their way to Ukraine.

" And now we are returning to wait for the end of the war in Ukraine,” the woman added..

For several weeks, Przemysl has been the biggest hub for Ukrainians leaving their native country.. Until now, thousands of new refugees arrive here daily.. Almost every shop window in the city is decorated with the Ukrainian flag.. Banners and billboards congratulate Ukrainians on the streets of a Polish city that was a popular tourist destination during the pandemic. At the Przemysl railway station, arriving and returning people spend several hours together, exchanging experiences.

“We know about the return to Ukraine. And we respect people's choices. They are better able to assess their personal situation,” said Victoria Andriyevskaya, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, adding that her service is not yet helping people who decide to go back to Ukraine..

Volunteers from Western European countries such as the UK and Spain work at the train station helping refugees with hot meals, tickets, clothing, toys for their children and even pet vaccinations.. Volunteers also noticed that many Ukrainians are returning to their homeland.

“We saw several thousand people returning daily through Przemysl. As the largest border crossing point in Europe, we are likely to see the majority of those people traveling back,” said Ada Wordsworth, 23, who interrupted her Slavic studies at Oxford University to help refugees as a translator.

“I was completely surprised when I saw this.. It shocked. The first family I met really wanted to go to Kharkiv,” the volunteer recalled..

In the beginning only one or two people wanted to come back. They usually wanted to take pets or relatives away.

“Western media portray Ukraine as a grey, gloomy, depressive post-Soviet territory where no one wants to return. But the truth is, everyone I've spoken to wants to come back as soon as possible,"

“In general, these are people who could not find work or housing. Others were deceived and lost a lot of money in Poland,” she added..

Worthsworth and other volunteers noticed that most Ukrainian refugees want to stay in Poland because of the similarity of language and environment.. Therefore, it is time for the EU to recognize this and send more funding here..

“The current wave of massive refugee returns is destroying the West’s belief that its countries are the “navel of the earth” and everyone wants to be there,” the volunteer said..

For the historian Dariusz Stola, who has written several books on migration, the wave of returns to Ukraine is not surprising and really corresponds to historical patterns..

“Even in the case of peacetime migration, many decide to return, although they intended to stay in another country, because the migration experience was not at all what they expected. The emotional needs of some people may be stronger than the fear of war. They can understand the news from Ukraine in their own way, making them even more convinced of the need to return. The emotional cost of a breakup due to dramatic conditions may be greater than the fear of being hurt by Russian shelling,” Stola explained..