The number of Ukrainian residents in Lithuania is going down. Some have left Lithuania for other European countries, but many have decided to return to Ukraine despite the ongoing war.
Marharita, who is leaving for Ukraine with her children from Kaunas bus station, lived in Lithuania for almost a year. She came here to join her husband, settled down and found a job. But when she got a better offer in Ukraine, she decided to return.
“I’m coming back because of my job, and I had an apartment there. It needs to be looked after because, you know, I’m worried about the property,” says Marharita.
There are still no flights to Ukraine, but currently, eight different bus services are organising trips from Kaunas alone, more than there were before February 2022.
“Not all of them operate daily, but there are perhaps 4–6 departures a day. They go to different cities, both to Western Ukraine, Lviv, Kyiv, but also to Southern Ukraine, to Odesa, to Mykolaiv,” says Edmundas Pavlovas, head for international transport at the transport company Kautra.
“Many people return because there are few opportunities for Ukrainians here in Lithuania,” says Marharita. “And it is difficult for Lithuanians themselves. Salaries are low, rents are high. My salary was 1,000 euros a month, and you have to pay 300–400 euros for a flat, to clothe and feed your children. It is very difficult.”
Men who remain in Lithuania wave as they see off their loved ones at the bus station. According to the Migration Department, the number of Ukrainians with residence permits in Lithuania is decreasing. This trend has been observed for a year.
In January 2023, there were almost 95,000 Ukrainians with residence permits in Lithuania. Last January, there were about 86,000, and in April, only about 74,000. Refugees who came to Lithuania to find shelter from war account for more than half of them.
“Ukrainians do not always report about their departure, so we have data from other EU countries,” notes Evelina Gudzisnkatė, director of the Migration Department. “We know that some of them do go to other countries, Germany, Sweden, elsewhere, but we also know that a large number of them have returned to Ukraine.”
Ten Ukrainians work in a frozen food shop in Kaunas. Natalia Faier, a Ukrainian who founded the business and employs her compatriots, says that it was difficult at first because of the language barrier, but the business is slowly picking up.
“People who are leaving are mostly those who came from another country, they don’t want to stay in one place, they are looking for better opportunities,” she says. “I think there are people in every country who are looking for somewhere better and simpler.”
Natalia’s team, however, are mostly permanent employees. They go to Ukraine occasionally to visit their families, but they say it is still too dangerous to return for good.
“I fall asleep and wake up thinking about my homeland, I want to go back,” says one of them, Liudmyla Holunenko. “But I am from the Donetsk region, from Bakhmut, which has been completely destroyed, burnt to the ground. I would like to, my heart is drawn there... Life will show how it will turn out, but for now, there is nowhere to go back to.”
“If the war ended today, we would all pack our things and go straight back, even to our houses in ruins. We would know that we are at home and that the goal is to rebuild our country. I think that my team would also disband in an instant and we would all go home,” believes Natalia.
According to the Migration Department, up to 30 Ukrainians arriving in Lithuania register every day. Ukrainian citizens make up the largest share of foreigners with residence permits in Lithuania, followed by Belarusians.
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