The “Way Home” project presented its information resources to participants of TIEF-2025

At the “Architects of the Future: The Human Resources Foundation of Historical Territories” projectorium, participants learned about the work of the “Way Home” social project and opportunities for its cooperation with universities in Novorossiya.

The human resources potential of the historical regions is still based solely on local graduates. This is because universities either have no dormitories or have very few. This factor, among others, prevents them from inviting students from abroad, including children of our compatriots who are foreign nationals. At the forum’s specialized venue, Alla Shelyapina, Executive Secretary of the Expert Council of the “Way Home” project, presented opportunities for informational cooperation with the social project “Way Home” to present Novorossiya’s universities to prospective students from abroad. However, university leaders, especially those at the state university in Donetsk, are not yet ready to attract young people from other regions and countries because of the difficult military-political and everyday situation. The water supply problem in Donetsk is extremely acute, and Ukrainian UAV strikes continue across all the new regions… But they would like to establish contact with residents who have left for other countries and other parts of Russia, and invite them to return home and rebuild their native land.

In the new Concept of the Migration Policy of the Russian Federation for 2026 - 2030, adopted on 15 November 2025, paragraph 28b) identifies as a separate area of work “creating conditions for the return, including from abroad, of residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhia Region and Kherson Region who left their permanent places of residence during the special military operation”.

How can former residents of Ukraine who have moved to Europe learn about the tremendous changes Novorossiya is undergoing as part of Russia? Russian media, channels and platforms are blocked there. Experts are convinced that the only way is through social networks (including those banned here) and personal messages in messengers. For this, people need media content that is not only informative but also engaging. It can and should be created by students studying at universities in the region. Then, through friends, relatives and acquaintances, and the channels of our compatriots abroad, videos and posts can be distributed among the Ukrainian diaspora in European countries. The media resources of the “Way Home” project can also help spread such stories.

From July 2024 to October 2025, the “Way Home” project demonstrated impressive audience growth of 309%. Total reach increased from 628 thousand to 2.57 million people. The average monthly audience increase during this period was 123.5 thousand people. The project’s popularity was driven by the active use of modern communication channels. Up to 30 thousand users from 60-65 countries visit the movement’s pages and chats on YouTube, Rutube, Dzen, VK and TikTok each week.

The leadership of the “Way Home” Autonomous Nonprofit Organization will present its project on a technology for cooperation with Novorossiya’s universities to the forum’s Organizing Committee for consideration of the possibility of including it in the final Resolution.