Nearly 4.6M IDPs registered in Ukraine

As of May, 4.6 million Ukrainians hold the status of internally displaced persons, while only 1.5 million receive social payments.

That’s according to Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshhchuk, who spoke on the air of the national telethon.

"There are currently 4.6 million internally displaced persons officially. This means that their number has decreased because we used to have 4.9 million in total. This is explained by the fact that certain changes were introduced, in particular last year. People who moved abroad lost the relevant status. People who returned to their homes also lost it," said Vereshchuk.

At the same time, the vice prime minister noted that recently, the number of citizens being evacuated from dangerous areas in Ukraine "is not significant".

"For example, 3,500 people evacuated Sumy region in May, and 6,500 – Kharkiv region. We are talking about those who received the IDP certificate for the first time. At the same time, there are those who received it a second time – they had already been registered," Vereshchuk said.

The official noted that 1.5 million IDPs now receive government payments.

"Let's distinguish between the number of IDPs with certificates and the number of those who receive benefits. We have 4.6 million people who are IDPs as per certificates, and only one and a half million of those who receive benefits: there are people who do not receive such benefits due to their own income. There are also people whose benefits have been cut," she said.

As Ukrinform reported, persons who evacuated dangerous areas in Kharkiv region can renew the status of an internally displaced person and get their payments.