Ukrainian State Border Guard Service publishes border crossing data

MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - The number of arrivals in Ukraine has been higher than the number of departures for three consecutive weeks, and the gap continues to grow: it reached 36,000 this week, compared to 21,000 the week before and 10,000 two weeks ago.

The number of departures grew from 348,000 last week to 360,000 this week, while the number of arrivals increased even higher, from 369,000 to 396,000 week-on-week, Ukrainian media said, citing information of the State Border Guard Service published on social networks.

The number of cross-border travels both ways reached 756,000 over the week, which is the highest number at least since mid-March 2022.

The number of vehicles that crossed the Ukrainian western border on the 31st week of the year has also grown, from 140,000 to 143,000, and the number of cleared humanitarian trucks has increased from 788 to 839, the service said.

According to the western regional department of the State Border Guard Service, 3,111 million people and almost 600,000 vehicles have crossed the border both ways through checkpoints in the Lvov region since the beginning of the summer season. "Characteristics of passenger traffic in the past two months indicates that the number of travelers grew by 326,000 and the number of vehicles grew by 28,000 in July," the service said. It noted that the number of persons arriving Ukraine was higher than the number of departing persons in July.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe at 5,873 million, while the number of Ukrainian refugees worldwide reached 6.231 million as of August 1. The numbers grew by 12,000 and 13,000, respectively, since the previous week.