Exactly 5 months ago, on October 18th, 2022, the Government established the Coordination Headquarters for ensuring the departure of Ukrainian citizens from the temporarily occupied territories through the territory of third countries to Ukraine. It is headed by Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
The priority task of the Coordination Center is to ensure the departure of Ukrainian citizens from the TOT through other countries for further return to their homeland.
To this end, a number of regulations have been developed. A significant part of them is aimed at organizing the process of obtaining and restoring identity documents and confirming Ukrainian citizenship. After all, many citizens who left the TOT found themselves abroad without documents.
To achieve this, a pilot project was introduced to allow the State Migration Service to issue a certificate of return to Ukraine on the territory of Ukraine. The issuance and transfer of such certificates for persons who were forcibly transferred to the territory of the aggressor state and lost their documents is carried out at the request of their relatives, legal representatives or the Ministry of Reintegration.
An important part of the Coordination Center’s work is establishing diplomatic relations with countries through which Ukrainians are trying to get home. These include, in particular, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Georgia. Diplomatic cooperation is aimed at making it easier for Ukrainians to cross the borders of these countries.
In addition, with the support of the Coordination Center, the provision of administrative services to Ukrainians who have found temporary refuge abroad has been improved. For example, the opening of mobile offices of the State Enterprise “Document” in a number of European countries has simplified the process of issuing and receiving passport documents.
Diplomatic missions have also expanded their services in the field of civil registration. In the near future, diplomatic missions in countries with the largest number of Ukrainians will be able to issue extracts from the Civil Registry Office, including birth certificates.
All these initiatives were implemented thanks to the cooperation of the Ministry of Reintegration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the State Migration Service, as well as public organizations.