Ukraine Issues - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Ukraine-Belarus: in 1997, Ukraine and Belarus signed a boundary delimitation treaty; the instruments of ratification were exchanged in 2013; a joint commission should be established to enable the actual demarcation to begin

Ukraine-Hungary: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Hungary to escape the Russian invasion in their country

Ukraine-Moldova: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Moldova to escape the Russian invasion in their country; Ukraine and Moldova signed an agreement officially delimiting their border in 1999, but the border has not been demarcated due to Moldova's difficulties with the break-away region of Transnistria; Moldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitor transit of people and commodities through Moldova's Transnistria Region, which remains under the auspices of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe-mandated peacekeeping mission comprised of Moldovan, Transnistrian, Russian, and Ukrainian troops

Ukraine-Poland: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Poland to escape the Russian invasion in their country

Ukraine-Romania: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Romania to escape the Russian invasion in their country, the ICJ in 2009 ruled largely in favor of Romania in its dispute submitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor (Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary delimitation; Romania opposes Ukraine's reopening of a navigation canal from the Danube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea

Ukraine-Russia: the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov is suspended due to the occupation of Crimea by Russia

Ukraine-Slovakia: tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Slovakia to escape the Russian invasion of their country

Refugees and internally displaced persons

IDPs:

1,461,700 (Russian-sponsored separatist violence in Crimea and eastern Ukraine) (2021); 5.91 million (Russian invasion), according to the UN (as of 5 December 2022); note – the more recent invasion total may reflect some double counting, since it is impossible to determine how many of the recent IDPs may also include IDPs from the earlier Russian-sponsored violence in Crimea and eastern Ukraine

stateless persons: 35,875 (mid-year 2021); note - citizens of the former USSR who were permanently resident in Ukraine were granted citizenship upon Ukraine's independence in 1991, but some missed this window of opportunity; people arriving after 1991, Crimean Tatars, ethnic Koreans, people with expired Soviet passports, and people with no documents have difficulty acquiring Ukrainian citizenship; following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, thousands of Crimean Tatars and their descendants deported from Ukraine under the STALIN regime returned to their homeland, some being stateless and others holding the citizenship of Uzbekistan or other former Soviet republics; a 1998 bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Uzbekistan simplified the process of renouncing Uzbek citizenship and obtaining Ukrainian citizenship

Illicit drugs

a transit country for illicit drug trafficking into the European Union due to its location amidst several important trafficking routes into western Europe, ports on the Black and Azov seas, extensive river routes, and porous northern and eastern borders; South American cocaine moves through Ukrainian seaports and airports; amphetamine and methamphetamine laboratories supply the local market

NOTE: The information regarding Ukraine on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ukraine 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ukraine 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.