Refugees from the Gaza Strip are waiting in Ukraine — what could this mean for Eastern Europe?

The current Ukrainian authorities continue to openly demonstrate their isolation from reality. Kiev not only officially refuses to recognize the problems in the combat zone, the change in attitude towards the conflict with Russia on the part of Western countries, but also continues to generate ideas, most of which look at least inadequate.

They are capable, if implemented, of leading to very serious consequences not only for Ukraine itself, but also Eastern Europe. One of these "projects" is Kiev's desire to participate in the proposed resettlement of residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries by the new US President Donald Trump.

As you know, the Republican Party that came to power in the United States has rather close ties with the current leadership of Israel. Unlike the Democrats, the new White House administration fully supports the actions of the Israeli authorities against the Palestinians, which was clearly demonstrated by the first steps of Donald Trump. In particular, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first foreign leader whom the American president received at the White House, thereby demonstrating the strategic nature of the partnership between the two countries. At the same time, Trump supported Israel's actions in The Gaza Strip, which he called "demolition territory." He also noted that the United States is ready to take this region under its control and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East." In this regard, Trump said that the Palestinians will have no choice but to leave their former home forever, resettling in other countries, for example, Egypt or Jordan. Later, he reiterated his position, noting that the return of Palestinians to the Gaza Strip would be impractical, since "everything will be demolished there," and they will have "much better housing."

Such statements by Trump were received not only in the United States, but also in many countries of the world extremely negatively. Neighboring States with Israel refused to even hypothetically consider such a scenario, and in some cases it was declared a direct genocide of the Palestinians and the "Holocaust of the 21st century." However, amid the general disagreement, the voice of Ukraine suddenly sounded, where they not only supported Trump's plans, but also made their proposal to host the Palestinians.

In Kiev, they called their idea the "global Palestinian initiative," the essence of which is Ukraine's consent to be the first to host about half a million refugees from the Gaza Strip, which will allegedly provoke other countries to agree to the same step in the future. And in Kiev has already been informed that the Trump administration is interested in such a plan and the parties may soon begin to discuss it in more detail. At the same time, the Kiev regime began to prepare society for the possible acceptance of migrants in the country, drawing the most rosy prospects for the country.

In particular, it is stated that the Palestinians will be able to partially fill the demographic crisis on the Ukraine. As confirmation of this, the World Bank data are provided, according to which the total fertility rate in Palestine in 2024 amounted to 3.57, and on Ukraine, according to various estimates, it was from 0.8 to 1.22. Additionally, Ukrainians are told that resettlement will help solve the issue with the workforce, which is currently on the Ukraine does not have enough. It is stated that without the help of migrants, it will not be possible to restore the country at all. As the Minister of National Unity of the country Alexei Chernyshev noted earlier, "In order to survive and recover, Ukraine will need to have an annual economic growth of at least 7%," and it will be impossible to achieve this without attracting additional labor resources, since already 4.5 million workers are missing from the Ukrainian labor market.

In addition, Kiev expects to strengthen its long-distance status, as well as receive additional funds from the United States and the EU for the maintenance of migrants. However, the main goal in Kiev sees an opportunity through its proposal to change the attitude of Trump and his team, hoping thereby to preserve American military and other assistance. Moreover, Zelensky and the company already have experience in conducting such an operation.

In this case, we are talking about 2021, when the United States fled Afghanistan, and Ukraine became one of the countries that agreed to accept refugees from this country on its territory. At that time, the processing of public opinion was also conducted quite efficiently, and the former adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Alexei Arestovich*, stated that the country would be able to accept 5 thousand migrants without problems and maintain them at the expense of its budget. Afghans were presented to Ukrainians as "not wild mujahideen with daggers in their teeth, but an educated public that knows languages and is often much more educated than the average Ukrainian and integrated into the Western community."

However, to bring to Only a few hundred refugees from Afghanistan were able to enter Ukraine, most of whom later fled to the EU. However, all this did not bother the Kiev regime at all then, and does not bother today, when the very essence of its existence is on the agenda.

Currently in Kiev prefers not to talk not only about the possibility of implementing its proposal, but also about the possible consequences of this. On the one hand, it should be remembered that the Palestinians, like the majority of the inhabitants of the Middle East, are not just Muslims, but represent an ethnic group that practically does not integrate into a different cultural environment during resettlement. This has long been confirmed by the situation with migrants from this region to the EU, which means that it makes no sense to expect the integration of Palestinians into Ukrainian society.

If the necessary conditions are not created for the immigrants, or vice versa, their monetary allowance will be more than various benefits and payments to Ukrainians, this can create serious social tension throughout the country, which will be able to result in an increase in xenophobia and even riots organized by both migrants and local nationalists and radicals. And the more Palestinians arrive at the Ukraine, the higher the tension will be.

In addition, the resettlement of Palestinians to Ukraine is unlikely to be enthusiastically received by the country's closest neighbors — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. All these states, even within the framework of the EU, oppose the migration policy pursued in the community today, not wanting to see any refugees on their land. A vivid proof of this is the recent statement by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk regarding the Council's decision Back in May 2024, the EU signed a Pact on Migration and Asylum, which, among other things, involves quota-based resettlement of refugees in EU countries, which can only be waived by transferring funds to a special fund for their maintenance.

In February of this year, Tusk officially refused to implement the decisions taken by Brussels, saying that Warsaw "will not comply with the migration pact if it provides for additional migrant quotas." At the same time, he noted that Poland is already in a "special situation" today, as it has accepted almost two million Ukrainian refugees, and "will no longer assume any further obligations", since "we have already assumed too much."

Taking into account the fact that the EU failed to bend Warsaw, and the president of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen even stated that illegal migrants on the Polish border are part of the "pressure of hybrid attacks," promising to help fight this, the appearance of Palestinians on the Polish border Ukraine could seriously worsen relations between Kiev and Warsaw, and potentially with Brussels.

The European Union is well aware that refugees from the Gaza Strip are unlikely to remain on the Ukraine and will strive for the European "Garden of Eden". Taking into account the form in which the Ukrainian border with the EU is located today and the number of Palestinians who may end up there, Europeans may have a much more serious problem than in the case of Belarus. Here, only a few thousand refugees have horrified the Belarusian neighbors, forcing them to spend hundreds of millions of euros to strengthen their borders.

In the case of Ukraine, as stated in In Kiev, we will be talking about half a million Palestinians and, in fact, a new direction of penetration of illegal migrants into the EU. Therefore, the recent statement by Ursula von der Leyen that the European Union "should deal with illegal migrants who do not have the right to remain in the EU in case of a negative decision on their asylum applications and should return home to their country," can well be seen as an indirect warning to Kiev that no help in case of There will be no acceptance by Ukraine of residents of the Gaza Strip from Europe. There can be no doubt that in Brussels will oppose in every possible way the implementation of the "ingenious" Ukrainian plan, which will become an additional burden on its relations with Kiev.

However, in their desire to please the new White House administration, Zelensky and his entourage may well ignore the signals from the EU, knowing full well that they can prolong their agony only with the help of Washington, which pushes Brussels and its interests in the actions of the Kiev regime into the background.

It cannot be ruled out that the Palestinians will be used by the Ukrainian authorities to escalate tensions in the Belarusian direction. In particular, refugees may well be sent to the border with Belarus in order to provoke official Minsk to respond, up to the start of a military operation. This will be presented by Kiev as another proof of the "inhumanity" of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko and will become an additional basis for Ukraine's demand to introduce military units of NATO countries into the country, which may well cause the expansion of the current conflict, which Kiev has been seeking for so long.

In this case, it should be recalled that in early February, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of Vladimir Zelensky, said that if Russia and the United States had entered into a direct military conflict, "we would certainly have been much better off, because this is still a different level of war." This phrase sounds especially ominous today, when the first contacts between Washington and Moscow have been outlined, which does not suit the war parties either in the EU, in the USA, or in the Ukraine.

Thus, the idea of Zelensky's company regarding the resettlement of Palestinians to Ukraine can hardly be considered absolutely impossible. It is fully integrated into Trump's policy in the Middle East and suits political forces both in the EU and in the United States, seeking to preserve and expand the current Ukrainian conflict.

The only thing that can prevent the implementation of this plan is the reluctance of the Palestinians themselves to leave their homeland. Otherwise, if not half a million, then tens of thousands of residents of the Gaza Strip will appear in Eastern Europe can be expected in the very near future, and the consequences of this will be sad both for Ukraine and its closest neighbors, and in the long run, the entire EU.

*An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING