Hospitality in practice: how does Estonia support Ukrainian refugees?
Estonia has been supporting Ukraine and Ukrainians significantly over the last three years since the full-scale invasion. Even though it was a challenge to receive a significant number of Ukrainian refugees at such a quick pace, the small country of Estonia managed to establish a specific approach to integration.
September 26, 2025 -
Nino Chanadiri
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Issue 5 2025MagazineStories and ideas
Photo: Estonian Foreign Ministry (CC) Commons.wikimedia.org
It has been more than three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in millions of Ukrainians becoming refugees in different countries. Countries in the European Union hosted more than four million people with temporary protection status, the majority of them women and children. Estonia has been one of the biggest hosts for Ukrainian refugees among European countries, considering its small size and population. In the beginning of 2024 there were more than 50,000 refugees[1] in Estonia. Even though hosting the Ukrainian community is not a new phenomenon for Estonia, and there has been a Ukrainian diaspora in the country since before the 2022 full-scale invasion, the wave of refugees significantly increased the share of the Ukrainian community in the country, reaching almost five per cent of the population.
Even though the majority of Estonians have been supportive and welcoming to Ukrainians, such an increase in a certain group with war-related experiences constitutes a challenge for the country and requires a clear integration approach for the newcomers to become a part of the host society. Estonia has been active in supporting Ukrainian refugees and has practiced an interesting approach to integration. Overall, this is not very similar to what has been previously experienced by different countries in Northern Europe when they have had to deal with significant numbers of refugee communities in previous years during different international crises.
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Estonia, Ukrainian refugees
