They are part of a wave of refugees — more than two million — who have traveled back and forth between Ukraine and their temporary homes in other European countries to visit relatives, obtain official documents or check on their property.
Trains crossing into Ukraine are often packed with families returning for the school holidays, in many cases to visit the husbands and fathers left behind since the government barred most men from leaving during the war.
Historians and sociologists say the scale of these trips is unusual in recent history, owing in good part to the geography of the conflict in Ukraine, where vast swaths of territory remain relatively safe and are accessible from the rest of mainland Europe.
The brief returns, those experts add, show that Ukrainian refugees are adapting to the war as it drags on, trying to strike a balance between staying in safer lands abroad and reconnecting with their past lives at home.
Ioulia Shukan, a sociologist at Paris Nanterre University who studies the social impact of the war in Ukraine, said it was a question of “rebuilding a relationship with your homeland without being completely resettled.” She said that medical appointments, a fixture of everyday life, contributed to restoring “a semblance of normality” even if they required an extensive and potentially dangerous journey.
Persons:
Ioulia, ”
Organizations:
Paris Nanterre University
Locations:
Ukraine, Europe