If Ukraine loses, Europe will be flooded with a new wave of refugees – German expert

In the event of Kiev’s military defeat in a defensive war against Russia, millions of new refugees will flood out of Ukraine.

This warning comes from migration expert Gerald Knaus.

“Those in Europe who are still wavering about expanding aid to Ukraine have not truly understood what is at stake,” he said in an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

“If Ukraine loses, then we will face the most massive displacement of refugees since the 1940s. Many millions of other people will come to us. We already have around ten million displaced Ukrainians. Many millions more have stayed in Ukraine hoping for success, but if that confidence disappears, the number of refugees will quickly increase,” Knaus pointed out.

In this context, the expert recalled the period immediately after Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when three million people fled from the country in the first three weeks.

In his interview with RND, Gerald Knaus did not speculate on how many new refugees could arrive in Germany in the event of Ukraine’s defeat. He reminded that out of the 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees in the European Union, 1.2 million are in Germany.

“On a per capita basis, this is less than in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, but ten times more than in France,” the expert noted.

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel reported on March 22, citing the German Ministry of the Interior, that there are currently around 1.65 million Ukrainians registered in Germany. This is approximately 250,000 more than in 2023. According to the publication, the number of Ukrainian citizens fleeing Russian military aggression now exceeds the number of asylum seekers in Germany from other countries.