Ukrainian Migrants’ Digital Connections to Family and Homeland during the War

By Taisiia Ratushna

When Yulia fled Ukraine with her young daughter in March 2022, leaving behind her husband and their home, her phone became her link to home and her source of news about the events unfolding in her country. “I couldn’t stop scrolling through the news,” she recalls. She feared missing important news about the fighting near her home, which she had left on an evacuation train. By endlessly updating news feeds in Telegram channels and through numerous calls to her family, Yulia navigated a path filled with uncertainty, fear, and still, hope.

For Oleksandr, who arrived in Germany a year after the full-scale invasion to be reunited with his wife and children, staying informed meant checking social media and news aggregator sites daily to make sure his family members who remained in Ukraine were safe.

Like Yuliya, Oleksandr relies on digital tools to stay connected and engaged in the Ukrainian context and struggles with the challenges of building a new life abroad.

These stories emphasize how deeply Ukrainian migrants remain connected to their homeland through monitoring news and communicating with family and friends in Ukraine through digital platforms. This engagement raises important questions about the role of digital platforms in the lives of Ukrainian migrants, their impact on adaptation to a new country, and their intentions to return home. 

War, Migration and an Uncertain Future

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 led to a massive migration crisis, one of the most severe ones in Europe since World War II. Many Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes to escape the fighting, the bombing, the destroyed infrastructure, and humanitarian problems caused by the war.

The UN estimates that approximately 14 million people have been displaced, with around 8 million fleeing abroad and more than 6 million remaining internally displaced. As of October 15, 2024, according to UNHCR, 6.75 million Ukrainian migrants were registered outside of Ukraine, with 6.19 million registered in Europe[1].

The most significant number of migrants is currently in European countries: Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and other EU countries. In 2022, the European Union responded quickly to this migration crisis by granting temporary protection (or similar status) to Ukrainian migrants[2]. This mechanism has allowed Ukrainians to access social services, the labour market, health care, and education in the EU without going through lengthy bureaucratic procedures. However, this status is temporary. The European Commission can withdraw it after a special decision.

Meanwhile, the war continues, and the length of stay of Ukrainian migrants abroad is increasing, prompting them to consider whether to return to their homeland or integrate into new countries.

According to the report of the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Europe and UNHCR Ukraine published in February 2024, the proportion of migrants planning or hoping to return to Ukraine in the future has decreased compared to 2023 from 77% to 65%, while the share of those who are undecided about returning has increased (from 18% to 24%) as well as those who report no hope of returning (from 5% to 11%) (Lives on Hold #5, 2024, p. 4). This number is even more contrasting when compared to the data from another wave of this survey in 2022, where 81% of respondents declared that they hoped to return to Ukraine one day (Lives on Hold #2, 2022, p. 6)^[3]. The longer they stay in the host countries, the greater the number of Ukrainians who do not plan to return. Nonetheless, so far, we have seen the majority of Ukrainians wanting to return to their homeland.

Essential factors in this decision include difficulties in adaptation, language barriers, cultural differences, limited integration opportunities, the desire to reunite with family members in Ukraine, and unsatisfactory housing conditions in the host countries. However, another significant factor that influences the intention to return or permanently settle abroad is the situation in Ukraine. According to the National Institute for Strategic Studies^[4], Ukrainians with more information about the situation in Ukraine and their own locality are more likely to plan to return (Malynovska, 2024). Digital and social media play a significant role in providing this information and establishing and maintaining communication between Ukrainian migrants and their homeland and their families and friends who remain in Ukraine.

Theoretical Framework

Research shows that media and communication technologies play an essential role in the daily lives of migrants worldwide. Migrants can maintain connections across distances and build new social networks online. Over the past decade, the scale, intensity, and forms of migration and digital connections have changed and accelerated significantly (Leurs & Smets, 2018). Social media not only serve as new channels of communication in migration networks but also change their nature, facilitating migration and helping migrants to keep in touch between their home country and the host country (Diminesku, 2008; Diminesku, 2020). Social media facilitates migration by maintaining strong ties with family and friends, developing weak ties to organize migration and integration, creating a new infrastructure of hidden ties, and accessing unofficial information about migration (Dekker & Engbersen, 2014). Digital platforms provide a space for communication and empower separated migrant families to maintain long-distance relationships (Madianou & Miller, 2013; Nedelcu & Wyss, 2016). Through social media platforms and digital devices, migrants create digital diasporas (Nedelcu, 2018) that do not oppose or replace traditional diasporas but somewhat further expand and transform their activities in the digital age, helping migrants to build new social networks (Candidatu & Ponzanesi, 2022) and better integrate into host societies (Alencar, 2017).

Indeed, for Ukrainian migrants, social media platforms such as Facebook and Telegram have become a place to form new virtual communities for help and support. In these communities, they exchange information, share experiences of adaptation and solving everyday problems, and support each other. These communities help Ukrainian migrants adapt to new conditions, alleviating the isolation often accompanying displacement (Ratushna, 2024). Social media empower Ukrainian migrants by giving them access to information about their country of arrival and helping them create new social ties. However, at the same time, as most Ukrainian migrants in EU countries have temporary protection, their status is still uncertain, and most are eager to return; they also try to maintain ties with their homeland and family members. In this situation, social media can also work in another direction, strengthening the connection with the country of origin through shared information, news from home, and communication with family and friends.

Research Methodology

The study’s basis was a qualitative approach focused on the personal experiences of Ukrainian migrants, which helped to understand their digital connections to family and homeland during the war.

1. The sample of informants for the in-depth interviews (n=12) included Ukrainian migrants currently residing in Germany, aged 20 to 46, both men and women (data collection took place from July to November 2024).

2. Additionally, social media analysis was used, including a thematic analysis of Telegram groups for Ukrainian migrants, where they discuss news from Ukraine and receive information about what is happening in Germany.

3. The results of quantitative research by Ukrainian research organizations (KIIS, Razumkow Centre, and The National Institute for Strategic Studies) and data from the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Europe and the UNHCR Ukraine report were also used to triangulate the data.

Main Results

Among the Ukrainians who travelled abroad at the onset of the full-scale invasion and became migrants, the majority were women with children, while their husbands remained in Ukraine, so keeping them connected was crucial. Mobile operators in the EU and Ukraine quickly set up special initiatives to support Ukrainians. For example, in Germany, getting free SIM cards from Vodafone, Telekom, and O2 mobile operators was possible^[5]. They included the possibility of free (or reduced) calls and SMS to Ukraine, mobile internet, and other special offers. Some preferential tariffs for Ukrainians are still in existence. These initiatives helped Ukrainian migrants to stay in touch with their families during the journey and after they arrived in Germany. They received timely updates on the situation in Ukraine and actively participated in local Facebook and Telegram groups created for Ukrainian migrants arriving in Germany. Therefore, we can say that Ukrainian migrants have become a prime example of connected migrants (Diminesku, 2008; Leurs & Ponzanesi, 2018).

Receiving information about events in Ukraine

In almost all interviews, participants mentioned a higher interest in the news in the first months after the start of the full-scale invasion.

Yuliia describes how she followed the situation during a journey to Germany in March 2022:

I was constantly scrolling through the feed, refreshing it. I read everything that was on Facebook, Telegram, and Viber, and in the chat of my apartment building, if anyone knew anything about where they were [Russian troops], they wrote there.

All the respondents regularly follow the news from Ukraine. Oleksandr, who arrived in Germany in 2023: ‘I check the news every night… My curiosity, as they say, does not fade, I still worry, especially since my relatives live there, so I don’t feel like I don’t care what’s going on.’

In the first months after the start of the full-scale invasion, it was more often ‘constant monitoring.’ Nevertheless, over time, they began to limit the frequency of news updates. Maryna, who came to Germany in 2022, recalls:

When the war started, of course, I started following many channels, first of all Telegram channels, but it turned out to be such slag and much rubbish… I started listening to everyone who said something; I couldn’t stop listening. I lived in this bubble; I listened to it all the time, every free minute, and realized that it could drive me crazy. So, I decided to limit myself… I limited my Telegram channels to two Kyiv live and Ukraine news. I check them every morning and before going to bed.

Quantitative surveys of Ukrainian migrants also confirm this tendency to follow the news. For example, according to a study by The Razumkov Centre^[6] conducted in July-August 2022, 91% of migrants followed events in Ukraine daily. In addition, 85% of respondents received information about events in Ukraine from social media, 62% from Ukrainian websites and online publications, 59% from relatives and friends, and 24% from Ukrainian television programs (including online) (Attitudes and assessments of Ukrainian refugees, 2022).

However, Ukrainian researchers have recorded a decline in interest in news from Ukraine among Ukrainian migrants. According to a KIIS^[7] survey conducted in April 2024, 56% of respondents said they periodically receive information about Ukraine, while 34% said they were not interested in information about Ukraine. Another 11% avoided answering this question. At the same time, among 56% of respondents, 42% receive information from Ukrainian sources, while the remaining 14% rely exclusively on foreign sources (Hrushetskyi, 2024).

Respondents during the in-depth interviews said that they follow the news from Ukraine regularly, but not as often as they did at the beginning of the invasion. Everyone uses digital technologies for this purpose. Most often, these are social media (YouTube and Telegram channels), news aggregator sites, and Ukrainian media sites. Family members and friends who remain in Ukraine are also important sources of news.

Types of News Followed

Ukrainian migrants mainly follow the news and events that are happening in the region/locality they left because they have family members and friends there, so this information is essential for understanding that they are safe. More respondents follow the news from the frontline, which is related to anxiety about their relatives and friends who stayed behind, as well as the proximity of their former home to the frontline. While the news can be disturbing and sometimes challenging to take in with reports of destruction, death, and violence, they want to stay informed to ‘understand the situation no matter how difficult it is.’

Opinions were divided on political news, with some informants trying to distance themselves from any political news and considering this topic insignificant compared to the challenges of the war. Natalia, who arrived in Germany in the spring of 2022, says:

I am not very interested in Ukraine’s politics. For me, this is some traumatic information, and I do not want to worry about it because I can’t influence it in any way. I am already upset by the military actions taking place in the country, and if I also think about those [politicians] who are doing something wrong, it will be a double burden.

However, most respondents indicated that they became more interested in political life in Ukraine after fleeing, and now they try to follow and understand political events in their homeland.

The majority of respondents consider themselves media literate and believe they obtain up-to-date and objective information about current events. For them, a primary marker of reliability and truthfulness is the absence of analytical commentary, focusing instead on straightforward, factual reporting in the news.

Analytical texts or videos are more trusted if they ‘do not embellish reality’. Maryna, for example, describes a YouTube observer she trusts, saying: ‘He does not try to say what you want to hear; he says what he thinks and does not put pressure on you.’

Most respondents said they had no one to discuss the news with, while some tried to discuss it with new acquaintances but did not see interest.

Interestingly, respondents receive news about local life in Germany, including German government decisions regarding Ukrainians living in Germany, mainly from Telegram channels created for Ukrainian migrants. Sometimes, they also watch the news on German television, but these practices are rare, and in such cases, the purpose is to learn German rather than to be interested in the news itself.

Information regarding significant decisions made by the German government that affect them, such as the extension of temporary protection status or new employment policies like JobTurbo^[8], is primarily sourced from Telegram channels specifically created for Ukrainian migrants in Germany^[9]:

I rarely watch German television because I do not have the level of German to understand what they are saying. Again, I learn more from Internet channels that give some news about what is happening to Ukrainians [in Germany]… I understand that there is a diaspora from Ukraine in almost every city, and there are Telegram channels. For example, we have a Telegram channel that covers about twenty topics… People post information there (Oleksandr).

Consequently, Ukrainian migrants hardly use the host country’s media to integrate into the host society and do not join online communities consisting of representatives of the host country, relying more on virtual communities created by Ukrainians.

Connection with Ukraine through Family Relationships

Maintaining ties with family in Ukraine remains extremely important for many Ukrainian migrants who have found themselves abroad due to Russia’s full-scale invasion. According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ukrainians who have a spouse or children in Ukraine are significantly more likely to plan to return home (72% compared to 57% for those with no immediate relatives) (Lives on Hold #5, 2024, p. 4). This trend illustrates the importance of family ties, which become not only emotional support but also a significant factor in making decisions about the future.

The experience of migrants highlights the importance of staying connected with loved ones during their path. Thanks to an internet connection, Yuliia was able to call her husband and mother multiple times a day using Telegram. These regular updates allowed her to reassure them about her safety and share details about her route, offering a sense of security amidst the fear and uncertainty of displacement.

Like Yuliia, other respondents say they keep in touch with their relatives daily through messengers (using mobile internet) and phone calls at reduced roaming rates^[10]. Communication can be short (few minutes) but regular, as it helps to reduce emotional distance and provide a sense of stability.

Although the connection can be limited to short conversations, sometimes it lasts much longer. Yuliia talks about her communication with her husband: ‘Sometimes, we talk for ten minutes because we are tired and have nothing new to say. But often, we can talk with my husband for an hour or two, turn on the video, and our daughter joins us.’ Such long video calls help the family maintain their usual rituals and feel together, even at a distance.

Thus, maintaining digital connections with family not only helps relieve migrants’ emotional distress but also strengthens their connection to their homeland, leaving the door open for possible return.

Conclusions

Social media and digital platforms have considerably facilitated access to information for Ukrainian migrants. They actively use messengers and thematic groups to keep in touch with relatives, receive news, and discuss issues related to migration and integration in a new environment. Constantly monitoring news on social media allows Ukrainian migrants not only to stay informed about events in the country but also to maintain an emotional connection with home.

However, constant engagement with Ukrainian news and communities may slow integration into host societies, as it reinforces emotional ties to their homeland. This focus on Ukraine can make migrants feel like temporary residents, limiting their interaction with local communities and cultural spaces. Consequently, while maintaining such connections may support eventual return plans, it can hinder adaptation to life abroad.

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References

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Dekker, R. & Engbersen, G.  (2014). How social media transform migrant networks and facilitate migration. Global Networks, 14(4), 401–418. doi:10.1111/glob.12040.

Diminescu D. (2020). Researching the connected migrant. In Smets K., Leurs K., Georgiou M., Witteborn S., Gajjala R. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of media and migration (pp. 74–78). SAGE.

Diminescu, D. (2008). The connected migrant: an epistemological manifesto. Social Science Information, 47(4), 565–579. doi:10.1177/0539018408096447.

Hoffmann, L., Jónsson, Þ. A., & Meckl, M. (2022). Migration and community in an age of digital connectivity: A survey of media use and integration amongst migrants in Iceland. Nordicom Review, 43(1), 19–37. doi:10.2478/nor-2022-0002.

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Footnotes

[1] UNHCR. Operation Data Portal. Ukraine Refugee Situation. (2024). Retrieved from https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine.

[2] Ukraine: Commission proposes temporary protection for people fleeing war in Ukraine and guidelines for border checks [Press release]. (2022). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1469.

[3] However, the rise in the number of migrants who do not plan to return is influenced not only by shifting attitudes. This trend may also reflect that some individuals who initially intended to return have already done so and are outside the current samples.

[4] The National Institute for Strategic Studies is the main research institution that provides analytical and forecasting support to the President of Ukraine.

[5] https://www.vodafone.de/featured/inside-vodafone/ukraine-hilfe-die-wichtigsten-infos-kontaktdaten-und-anlaufstellen-fuer-gefluechtete-auf-ukrainisch/#/; https://www.telekom.de/hilfe/ukraine-ua?samChecked=true; https://www.telefonica.de/news/corporate/2022/06/ukraine-hilfe-o2-telefonica-unterstuetzt-gefluechtete-mit-prepaid-tarif.html.

[6] The Razumkov Centre is a non-governmental think tank founded in Ukraine in 1994.

[7] Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) is a private Ukrainian company which works in collaboration with the National University of ‘Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’.

[8] An initiative of the German government to ensure that migrants are employed quickly and successfully integrated. https://www.bmas.de/DE/Arbeit/Migration-und-Arbeit/Flucht-und-Aysl/Turbo-zur-Arbeitsmarktintegration-von-Gefluechteten/turbo-zur-arbeitsmarktintegration-von-gefluechteten.html.

[9] These channels have predominantly been established by Ukrainians and individuals from the former Soviet Union who emigrated before 2022, aimed at helping newcomers adapt following the onset of the full-scale invasion.

[10] Both German and Ukrainian mobile operators offer such special tariffs.

 

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About the Author

Dr. Taisiia Ratushna is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at Zaporizhzhia National University. In 2010, she received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Classical Private University (Zaporizhzhia). Since then, she has been working at the Department of Sociology at Zaporizhzhia National University and has been researching communication processes in urban space and virtual environments. In 2020, she obtained an MA in psychology. Taisiia also cooperates with NGOs and advises them on conducting sociological research. Her current research interests are digitalization and the impact of the internet and social media on modern society. In particular, Taisiia investigates how certain groups use social media content and deal with different types of information in virtual spaces. Specifically, she studies the role of social media in migration processes, its benefits and threats for internally displaced persons. In the academic year 2022/23, she was a scholarship holder at the University of Tübingen (Germany). Taisiia Ratushna has been a member of the War, Migration, Memory research group at the Forum Transregionale Studien since 2022. In 2024-25, she is a Prisma Ukraïna fellow of the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

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Other Recent Articles in the TRAFO Series Fragmented Lives

Alexander Sicheneder, Why Ukrainians Return: Motivations of Return Migration and its Implications, 26 November 2024.

Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak, Living in War: Why Ukrainian Women are Willing to Live in a Country With a Risk to their Lives, 12 November 2024.

Lidia Kuzesmka, Fragmented Lives: 10 Pieces of the Ukrianian Displacement Puzzle, 22 October 2024.

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Citation: Taisiia Ratushna, Ukrainian Migrants’ Digital Connections to Family and Homeland during the War, in: in: TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 10.12.2024, https://trafo.hypotheses.org/53932

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