Zelenskyy Warned That Another 20 Million Ukrainians Could Flee to Europe If Ukraine Loses the War — Politico

On October 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned our partners that if Russia were to establish control over our country, it could force up to 20 million Ukrainians to leave the country and flee to Europe. He emphasized that Russia continues to kill Ukrainians and force them to leave their homeland.

“Russia is killing us,” the president said at a press conference during the European Union leaders’ summit. He added that Ukrainians are being driven out of their country and that Moscow has no intention of stopping.

The publication notes that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, millions of Ukrainians have left their homes. This has become the largest migration crisis in Europe since World War II.

According to Eurostat, more than 4 million Ukrainians are currently in EU countries under temporary protection. Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic have taken in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees.

Zelenskyy’s warning came amid another harsh military winter, marked by Russian shelling of Ukraine.

This is reported by Politico.

As a reminder, on October 16, Russian dictator Putin claimed that since the beginning of 2026, Russian troops had allegedly seized 6,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory and occupied 310 settlements. However, military analysts report that the Russian army’s actual territorial gains are 45 times smaller than those claimed.

On October 16, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had launched massive strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and that such attacks would continue. 

The temporarily occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region has effectively been placed under a humanitarian blockade. There have been no new food deliveries to the town since May, and an attempt to bring in food in early September ended in failure.