Is most of Ukraine safe enough, with discos and full shops, for refugees to return to? No, that's not true: Russian missiles and drones are regularly fired at civilian targets in the capital Kyiv and across the country, resulting in civilian casualties in locations far removed from frontline fighting. The wartime economic condition means refugees may not find Ukraine a safe place with discos and full shops.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on December 17, 2023, with comments translated from Czech into English by Lead Stories Staff from Tomio Okamura, leader of the opposition populist party Freedom and Direct Democracy. He said:
It is necessary to terminate residence permits for Ukrainians in the CR who are not demonstrably from places where conflict is taking place, which is most of Ukraine. Most places in Ukraine are safe with discos and full shops.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Dec 20 08:44:11 2023 UTC)
Since the start of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia's military has repeatedly hit civilian targets, including cafes, railway stations, and apartment buildings across Ukraine, often with devastating consequences and dozens of casualties per attack. Some of the deadliest attacks included a missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk, or on a cafe in the village of Hroza, the latter killing 59 people. Both of these attacks happened in the eastern part of the country, but Russia has also targeted the western part of the country, close to the border with Poland in August 2023, as well as to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
In the autumn of 2023, intensified missiles and drone attacks targeted civilians in Ukraine´s capital Kyiv. Ukrainian air defense systems intercepted some of the attacks, but others resulted in tens of wounded, including children.
On November 21, 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it had documented at least 10,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine, including 560 children, and reported that 18,500 civilians have been injured since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country. At the same time, the mission cautioned that the actual number of casualties "may be significantly higher".
While some discos operate and some shops are filled with goods to sell, the war has deprived the country of economic resources to function normally and the decision to return to a country to face the violence of war, in the absence of a ceasefire and economic support, may not be so easily imposed, as the post suggests.
The TikTok video is an excerpt from an interview with Tomio Okamura, an opposition politician who opposes providing military aid to Ukraine and assistance to refugees, given to the Czech state broadcaster Cesky Rozhlas Plus on December 15, 2023.
