Ukraine Government Looks to Increase Immigration From Africa to Bolster Workforce

The government of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine has announced plans to increase migration from Africa amid employment shortfalls in the war torn country.

While Ukraine has yet to enter the European Union, Kyiv appears intent on mimicking the globalist economic ethos of Brussels and replacing its fallen men with African migrants.

The head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov, one of Zelensky’s top advisors, said this week that the government will revise its list of “risky” countries to make it easier for companies in Ukraine to hire from African countries, broadcaster TCH reported.

Budanov suggested that this would help businesses facing worker shortages, presumably in part as a result of the over four years of brutal warfare with Russia.

Yet Bundanov acknowledged that this will likely present some risks, including societal and security concerns. He also noted that Ukraine has previously had issues with migrants using work visas to enter before absconding into the country.

It is believed that Vladimir Putin’s forces have suffered significantly more casualties, yet the impact may be more acute for Ukraine, given its smaller population size of around 40 million compared to Russia’s 140 million.

Although official figures are dubious from both sides of the conflict, a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. estimated earlier this year that Ukraine has “likely suffered somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 casualties.”

This would include those who were either wounded, went missing, or killed. According to the study, between 100,000 and 140,000 men were killed fighting from February 2022 to December 2025.

Furthermore, around 5.6 million Ukrainians are still living abroad as refugees as of the start of this year, according to the Centre for Economic Strategy (CES).

The CES estimated that, under an “average” post-war scenario, around 1.6 million refugees would return to their homeland, whereas under a “pessimistic” scenario, only 1.3 million would return.

The move to increase immigration from Africa comes in the wake of Budanov announcing last month that Kyiv will seek to develop a “strategy for expanding relations and presence on the African continent.”

“For the first time, Ukraine has set itself the goal of comprehensively influencing the situation on the African continent and protecting Ukrainian interests in this part of the world. Ukraine must confirm its status as a competitive and influential geopolitical player, defend its own subjectivity around the world and thus promote its own economic, security and other interests in any part of the planet,” Kyrylo Budanov said.