Spaces of internal displacement: Understanding the hidden urban geographies of armed conflict in Ukraine

Abstract

Ukraine, like some other Eastern European post-communist countries, faced a military-political crisis during its subsequent development that led to a ‘new’ category of migrants: internally displaced persons (IDPs). This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the hidden urban geographies of internal displacement and the consequences of armed conflicts in large cities, in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian armed conflicts with a focus on major Ukrainian cities as primary recipients of Ukrainian IDPs. The difficulties faced by Ukrainian urban IDPs in adapting to new geopolitical and life realities and integrating into host communities are examined, as well as an elaboration of the spatial intra-urban patterns of IDP distributions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to achieve the goals of the research. The data set consisted of official data, generalised survey results, and materials from in-depth interviews with urban IDPs from Donbas/Crimea. The empirical results of the study of urban IDPs in Ukraine shed light on patterns of the adaptation and integration of IDPs in large Ukrainian cities and help to understand more deeply the hidden urban geographies of internal displacement in large cities, in particular an understanding of the nature of intra-urban patterns of Ukrainian IDP distributions.

Protection of Rights of Internally Displaced Persons amid Military Aggression in Ukraine

“…It is understandable that the large numbers of IDPs moved to major Ukrainian cities as Kyiv and Lviv, as well as east region, which is the farer from the border part of country (Havryliuk, 2022). Nevertheless, most of the Ukrainian territory is rural area, which is also feel suffer from influx of IDPs to the countryside (Mamonova, 2022).…”

Internal Displacement of the Population During Times of War: Social Needs, Adaptation, and Prospects of Migrant Integration (Case of Odesa)

“…Ми чітко розуміємо, що отримуємо зовсім нову демографічну ситуацію в країні (Libanova, 2022), яка супроводжується перерозподілом населення в межах країни. Це визначає формування нових регіональних демографічних патернів, які потребуватимуть довгострокових досліджень і оновлення демографічної політики країни (del Pinal, 2008;Dykstra & Hagestad, 2016). З початку військової інтервенції з боку рф населення України вимушене приймати складне рішення стосовно переміщень (Malchykova & Pylypenko, 2023) Співробітники медичної сфери також зазначали, що вони намагалися виїхати в перші дні окупації через можливі наявні коридори.…”