Restricting payments would force them to return home and sign up to fight Russian forces, Poland’s foreign minister has said
Kiev’s Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga has welcomed Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s call on European governments to halt the provision of welfare benefits to Ukrainian men of military age who are living in the EU.
Following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kiev, Sikorski said the suspension of social payments for the male refugees would also benefit state finances in EU countries.
“Stop paying those social security payments for people who are eligible for the Ukrainian draft. There should be no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine,” Sikorski said at a conference of international leaders in Kiev.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga welcomed Sikorski’s call.
“It’s time really to raise the question of the European Union developing programs to return Ukrainians home,” Sibiga said, adding that appropriate conditions should be created for this. “I support the idea of Minister Sikorski,” Sibiga said. Being abroad should in no way give some Ukrainian men of military age an advantage over others, fighting at the battlefield, Sibiga stressed. “This duty applies to everyone, regardless of where they are,” he concluded.
Over 4 million Ukrainians who have fled their country since the escalation of its conflict with Russia in 2022 had temporary protection status in EU countries as of July this year. Adult men make up slightly more than a fifth of the total, according to data provided by the bloc’s statistics bureau Eurostat.
Kiev introduced a new law this year to boost the rate at which it forcibly drafts citizens for military service in order to compensate for battlefield losses as Russia advances in Donbass.
Under the new law, Ukraine lowered the call-up age for combat duty to 25 from 27. Kiev has also ordered Ukrainian men living abroad to update their conscription details online and called on them to return and fight.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed in February that his country had suffered around 31,000 fatalities.
Earlier this week, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergey Shoigu, accused Kiev of rejecting multiple opportunities to end the hostilities, citing the high death toll among Ukrainian soldiers.
“There was a first wave of mobilization, second wave of mobilization… They have reduced the age limit for mobilization. This was not necessary,” Shoigu said. “Every day they lose 28 square kilometers on average,” the official added. “But the most important thing is that they lose up to 2,000 people every day.”
Ukraine has suffered more than 12,795 troop casualties since the beginning of the Kursk incursion in early August, according to the latest estimates provided by the Russian military.
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