Russian attacks on Ukraine’s economy are increasingly targeting not only power plants and industrial enterprises. Warehouses, logistics centres and retail infrastructure are also coming under attack — the facilities through which goods, money and jobs move every day.
For businesses, this means destroyed assets and millions in losses. For individuals, it means the risk of losing their jobs, homes and familiar way of life. And after last winter, there is another concern: that the next winter could once again bring prolonged power, heating and water outages.
Despite the danger, a significant proportion of Ukrainians continue to live in Ukraine or maintain close ties with the country. In the article “Should I Leave or Stay: At Home or Abroad?”, I noted that the share of people staying in Ukraine who were considering leaving had fallen from 41% to 33%. But what exactly keeps people here? There is no single answer. People are held here by an entire system of factors. And today, I’ll tell you about them.
The war has radically changed Ukraine’s labour market. Some businesses have relocated or shut down, while others have lost production capacity. Nevertheless, a significant part of the economy continues to operate. Work matters not only as a source of income. It gives people structure, preserves their professional identity, social connections and sense of purpose. Today, work has become an important source of stability in an unpredictable world.
Interestingly, Ukrainians value more than just salary when it comes to their jobs. Among the key reasons for staying with their current employer are the opportunity to work remotely, cited by 61% of respondents, a friendly team atmosphere — 44%, good relationships with management — 36%, and comfortable and safe working conditions — 33%.
And when someone has spent years building a career, achieving professional success, continually developing their skills and investing in their education, they value those efforts and achievements. For some Ukrainians, staying is therefore not a passive decision. It is an opportunity to continue their professional lives where their skills are needed. And they are genuinely needed in Ukraine. In 2026, the labour shortage remains one of the key challenges facing businesses: according to materials from the State Labour Service, 67% of companies report a significant shortage of workers.
The strongest connection is family. According to research by the Centre for Economic Strategy and the Institute for Behavioural Studies, 91% of women surveyed said that being able to stay together with their families was a reason to remain in Ukraine. Another 88% selected “because this is my country”, while 72% cited having a home or property there. The study was conducted specifically among women, but it clearly demonstrates the strength of family ties in the decision to stay.
For an individual, the decision to stay can be entirely rational, even if they could earn more abroad. Their children go to school here. Their parents live here. There are people they can call in the middle of the night. They do not have to spend years building a network of trust from scratch.
There is, of course, also a material dimension to people’s attachment to Ukraine. An apartment, house, land, car, business, documents and personal belongings all remain in Ukraine even when someone temporarily leaves the country.
The war has turned property into a paradoxical source of stability: it is simultaneously a source of risk and a reason to stay.
According to data from the UN Refugee Agency, in 2025, 16% of respondents cited the need to check on their property in Ukraine as one of the reasons for returning.
However, it is not simply about the financial value of real estate. Home is not just property — it is also land, belongings, neighbours and a familiar way of life that can be difficult to recreate in another country. For many people, migration is therefore not simply a question of “Where would I live better?” but also “What will happen to everything I already have? How can I leave it behind?”
There is another factor that is difficult to measure in financial terms: the belief that Ukraine has a future.
According to an IRI survey conducted by the Rating Group in May–June 2026 among 2,404 Ukrainians, 78% believe that Ukraine has a promising future, while 85% expect Ukraine to win the war.
For a significant part of society, Ukraine is therefore not simply the place where they physically live today. It remains part of their future. And that is precisely why people continue to stay even when their present circumstances are far from comfortable.
At the beginning of 2026, around 5.86 million Ukrainian refugees remained outside Ukraine. At the same time, integration into another country is not always easy: only 57% of Ukrainian refugees in Europe are employed, while their employment rate is 22 percentage points lower than that of citizens of their host countries.
For some, leaving becomes a new life; for others, it is a way to wait out the danger. Working outside their profession, expensive housing, language barriers or dependence on social support can create a sense of temporary displacement. This is another reason why, for many Ukrainians, “leaving” and “moving abroad permanently” are not the same thing.
That is why Ukrainian migration increasingly resembles something more complex than a simple choice between “here” and “there”. In the first half of 2026, there were 7.13 million departures from Ukraine and 6.89 million entries. The difference was around 244,000 border crossings in favour of departures.
These figures do not show how many individual people left or returned. But they clearly illustrate another trend: migration is increasingly becoming a pendulum movement. A person may work in Ukraine while part of their family lives abroad, take their children out of the country, return to work, visit their parents or check on their property. The border is no longer necessarily a clear dividing line between two countries.
After four years of full-scale war, it may seem that Ukrainians have become accustomed to danger. But becoming accustomed to living under threat does not mean being afraid of it any less.
Safety remains the aspect of quality of life that Ukrainians rate most negatively: according to research conducted in 2025, only 5% were satisfied with their sense of safety, while 82% were dissatisfied.
Safety is precisely what determines the limit of a person’s willingness to remain in Ukraine, even when their entire life is here. People can tolerate air-raid alerts for the sake of their work, family or home. But if the level of threat becomes too high and accumulated anxiety reaches a critical level, all these powerful reasons may no longer be enough.
And once a person has made a considered decision to leave specifically to escape danger, they are unlikely to return to Ukraine permanently before the war ends. The UN Refugee Agency has recorded this pattern of movement: in 2025, most people returning to Ukraine planned to stay only temporarily. On average, only 7% of respondents planned to stay permanently, while 67% planned to stay for less than a month.
That is why, after the war, safety will be more than just one of the factors determining quality of life. It will become a fundamental condition for the return of Ukrainians who, despite all the factors keeping them here, chose to leave.
