Beneficiaries of temporary protection

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, launched in February 2022, forced more than eight million people to leave Ukraine. The EU promptly responded by activating, for the first time, the Temporary Protection Directive granting people fleeing the war immediate temporary protection status in the EU and a harmonised set of rights related to accommodation, education, healthcare, and access to work. According to Eurostat, in December 2022 there were 3.8 million beneficiaries of temporary protection in the EU (see Figure 3). Having access to temporary protection does not preclude people from applying for international protection in the EU, although, in certain cases, the two legal statuses cannot be combined. In 2022, 28 000 Ukrainians lodged asylum applications in the EU+ area.