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Israel welcomed no less than 10,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, the Immigration and Integration Ministry said Monday.
According to the ministry, Sasha Zlobjn, a native of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, is the 10,000th person to immigrate to Israel since the country opened its gates to those fleeing the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
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Sasha Zlobjn holding a sign reading 'I'm the 10,000th immigrant' at Ben Gurion Airport
(Photo: Immigration Ministry)
Zlobjn arrived at Ben Gurion Airport with his grandparents earlier Monday on a flight with dozens of other Ukrainian refugees.
"I fled Kharkiv with my grandmother and grandfather, but unfortunately, my parents stayed behind. It was an exhausting journey that ended with this beautiful reception," Zlobjn told immigration officials, according to the ministry.
The ministry said that more than two-thirds of the 10,000 people who immigrated to Israel in the past month are from Ukraine, and the rest are from Russia and Belarus.
Since the government considers all these immigrants from the former Soviet Union to be fleeing humanitarian crises - the war in Ukraine and increased repression in Russia and Belarus - the ministry decided to group them together for its statistics.
Immigration and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata welcomed the massive wave of migration from Ukraine but acknowledged that it is motivated by "difficult circumstances.”
Tamano-Shata added that there is "a real national and governmental commitment to the integration of immigrants.”
Israeli officials have estimated that tens of thousands more people from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus will immigrate to Israel in the coming weeks and months due to the war.