Since February 24 and the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainians in France have been widely mobilized. They organize demonstrations, collect aid for besieged cities and territorial defense forces – in which some even return to engage – and welcome refugees. If the general public discovered Ukrainian immigration in the context of the Russian invasion, its presence in France, just like the political and humanitarian activities that it leads there, are not new. They are part of a history of more than a century, during which the events of 2014 in Ukraine played a major role.

Ukrainian emigration in the world: an inventory

Before the influx of refugees caused by the 2022 war, France officially had 18,000 individuals born in Ukraine. Other states have much larger populations of Ukrainian descent. The fifteen states with the largest number of Ukrainians – in terms of country of birth, not national self-identification – can be divided into three categories.

First are the states of the former USSR, with Russia (3.3 million in 2019), Kazakhstan (350,000) and Belarus (220,000) in order. Due to the significant mobility between the Republics during the Soviet era, Ukrainians were very numerous there.

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