Multiple mobilities of war-fleeing Ukrainians: a longitudinal study from Estonia

This article analyzes mobilities of Ukrainians who fled to the EU in 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion, and remained there through 2024. Mobility in such context is structured by war, policies, and infrastructures but actively negotiated by individuals. A three-wave longitudinal panel survey (2022–2024) among Ukrainian war-fleeing women in Estonia illustrates how displacement is a dynamic and multidimensional process. Their mobility was shaped through the interaction of physical, digital, institutional, and affective dimensions. Mobility unfolded through divergent trajectories to which gender, age, and family status impacted. Institutional factors, particularly the EU Temporary Protection Directive, labour market access, and welfare systems, both enabled and constrained mobility options. Affective dynamics of fear, hope, duty, and longing played a central role in shaping decisions and future orientations. Intentions frequently shifted between return and long-term settlement. Some respondents remained largely immobile abroad, others relocated within Estonia, and many engaged in pendular mobility through temporary returns to Ukraine. Digital ties to Ukraine remained strong, while platform use adapted to the host-country context. By integrating physical, digital, institutional, and affective dimensions, the study advances the new mobilities paradigm by demonstrating how wartime displacement is processual, multidimensional, and continuously mediated across borders.