Ukraine’s government faces questions from some European Union (EU) states and domestic critics over a decision to allow more of its young men to leave the country, when its heavily outnumbered army is struggling to recruit troops for the war with Russia.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced in August that men aged 18-22 could go abroad, easing rules introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 that banned all adult men under 60 from crossing the border.
Several European countries, including Ireland, have reported a surge in young men arriving from Ukraine, and the EU says member states granted temporary protection to 79,205 people from Ukraine in September – a 49 per cent increase on the previous month and the highest such figure since August 2023.
Ukraine wants young men who have left to come back, even if just to visit, and retain links to their homeland and relatives still living there.
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Officials also want to reduce the number of families leaving the country or sending teenagers abroad before they turn 18.
However, critics in Ukraine say it is a fundamental mistake to let young men scatter around the world when they could defend the country now or in the coming years, contribute to its ailing economy and help rebuild when Europe’s biggest war since 1945 finally ends.
The decision has also irked some of Ukraine’s neighbours, where it has been seized upon by parties that oppose migration and want a softer line on Russia, and questioned by politicians who support Kyiv but are toughening their line on refugee issues under pressure from populist rivals.
“I asked the Ukrainian president to ensure that young men from Ukraine in particular do not come to Germany in ever-increasing numbers, but rather serve in their own country. They are needed there,” German chancellor Friedrich Merz said after speaking to Mr Zelenskiy on Thursday.
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“In Germany, welfare payments for these refugees will be structured in such a way that the incentives to work will be greater than the incentive to remain in the welfare system. So we are also planning concrete changes in this area,” Mr Merz added.
More than half of the 4.3 million people from Ukraine, who have temporary protection status in the EU live in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Polish far right party Konfederacja condemned Ukraine’s easing of border rules, saying that “Poland cannot continue to be a haven for thousands of men who should be defending their country, yet burden the Polish taxpayer with the cost of their own desertion”.
In the Czech Republic, the far right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) that is poised to be part of a populist new government has called for the residence permits of Ukrainian refugees to be reviewed and their benefits restricted.
Ukraine has far fewer troops than Russia – Mr Zelenskiy said that in the current fighting for the eastern city of Pokrovsk, his troops were outnumbered 8:1 – but polls show strong public opposition to lowering the age of conscription from 25.
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Mr Zelenskiy says Ukraine – as a nation with an ageing and shrinking population – must safeguard its young people, but critics question whether he has struck the right balance when more troops are so badly needed.
“Our biggest problem in Ukraine is the economy and mobilisation. We don’t have enough people,” said Roman Kostenko, a deputy who opposed allowing more young men to go abroad.
“I’m not saying these people need to be conscripted, but the war with Russia won’t end tomorrow ... These are future sergeants, future officers, future engineers, future economists. These are people who can work to defend our state.”
