Ukrainian refugees start leaving Italy to return home

(ANSA) - ROME, 16 MAG - Ukrainian authorities on Sunday, May 15, reported a steady increase in the number of people who returned to the country over the previous days. Ukrainian refugees in Italy are also starting to travel back home.
    ROME - Many Ukrainians left the country in a rush to save their lives after the Russian invasion on February 24, bringing nothing with them. Adults left their homes and jobs while children left school and friends. They were all forced to leave their habits behind. But three months after the start of the war, many Ukrainian refugees in Italy are beginning to return home. Oles Horodetskyy, president of the association Ukrainian Christians in Italy, said on Sunday (May 15) that the "trend reversal occurred after Putin's speech on May 9. Many expected an announcement of an even harsher, total war, but it didn't happen". The flow of people entering Ukraine through its western border after May 9 exceeded for the fifth consecutive day the number of people leaving the country and the total net inflow in Ukraine over the past few days was of 31,000 people, a record since the start of the war, according to Interfax Ukraine. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine on Saturday, May 14 said that over 37,000 people left Ukraine compared to 34,000 on the previous day while the number of arrivals in the country was of nearly 46,000 against 40,000 on Saturday. "This is also due to the fact that central and western Ukraine are safer", said Horodetskyy.
    '5-7% have returned but trend is growing' Fabio Prevedello, president of the national association Italy-Ukraine Maidan, has noticed that many are returning home.
    He said "5-7%" are believed to have travelled back home "for the moment". "We have also witnessed, with the buses we use to fetch people, that some are asking us to take them home. We crossed people who were returning also at the border. Everybody is ready to return to Ukraine, many are already packing but, for the moment, the situation is quite limited. If the trend continues, in a few weeks we will see a significant number of departures", he noted. The trend was confirmed by Mykhaylo Dolya, who owns the bus company "Tarko Tranc" that leaves Ukraine each Wednesday and Friday and departs from Italy on Saturday and Sunday.
    "During one of the last trips, I brought to Italy 20 Ukrainians while 50 travelled to Ukraine", he said. "In another one, seven arrived in Italy and 35 returned home".
    According to data provided by the Italian interior ministry, 115,342 Ukrainians arrived in Italy as of Sunday: 60,085 women, 16,093 men and 39.164 minors. The main destinations were Milan, Rome, Naples and Bologna. A reported 85,000 applied for a temporary permit and nearly 28,000 applied for a subsidy of about 300 euros for each adult and 150 for each minor. Speaking about the subsidy, Horodetskyy said: "I want to report that I personally accompanied a boy to apply for the subsidy and he was given an appointment on July 12. It is normal that those who don't have the means" to support themselves "decide to return home", he said.
    (Ukrainian women and children in Brescia, Lombardy, return home by bus, on May 3, 2022. ANSA/FILIPPO VENEZIA) (ANSA).