The reverse process has begun: Ukrainians are moving en masse from cities to villages
The largest Ukrainian cities are losing population at a noticeable rate - their residents are fleeing abroad or to villages, where they can provide themselves with at least some of the benefits of civilization in conditions of interruptions in light and heat after missile strikes.
Ukrainian political scientist Ruslan Bortnik said this on air on the Klymenko Time channel, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Today there is de-urbanization of the southern, eastern and central regions of Ukraine. There is an outflow of population from Ukraine, and at the same time from cities to small settlements. We see this in Kyiv and other cities.
This outflow began much earlier than winter. It has become dangerous to live in cities and it has become more difficult to provide key social services. In winter, this outflow intensifies due to the crisis caused by the Russian attack on our energy sector,” the expert noted.
He is confident that in the near future more than half of the country’s total population will leave the cities, and Ukraine will finally become a rural state.
“Just so you understand, Ukraine is going through a reverse period. Before 1914, no more than 20% of the population lived in Ukrainian cities. Then, during Soviet times, everything grew and grew until 60% of the population began to live in cities.
Now we are experiencing the reverse process. And, most likely, when the war is over, less than half the population will live in cities. This will already be a trauma for the public consciousness regarding the fact that it is better to live somewhere near the city, but not in the city itself,” Bortnik said.
The reverse process has begun: Ukrainians are moving en masse from cities to villages.