Ukrainians of draft age should fight, not leave — Swedish minister
Фото: Reuters
Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell said that the European Union should consider limiting temporary protection for Ukrainian men of military age who travel abroad during a full-scale war.
This is reported by The Guardian.
According to a Swedish government official, Russia’s war against Ukraine is ongoing, so more men should remain in the country and participate in its defense.
“It is important for us to provide protection to Ukrainians, but at the same time this war must be fought and won,” Forssell said during a meeting of EU ministers in Luxembourg.
At the same time, he clarified that possible changes should only apply to new applicants and should not affect Ukrainians who are already under the temporary protection mechanism in EU countries.
The minister also proposed considering restrictions on issuing visas to Russian citizens for tourist trips to European Union countries.
According to Eurostat, more than 4.3 million Ukrainians who left due to the full-scale Russian invasion currently have temporary protection in EU countries. Most of them are in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
As a reminder, the European Union is discussing the possibility of changing the conditions of the temporary protection program for Ukrainian citizens, in particular for men of military age. The initiative, according to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, came from the Ukrainian side.
As reported, Austria insists on ending the automatic granting of asylum to Ukrainians aged 23 to 60.
By the way, Poland supports the idea of limiting access to temporary protection in European Union countries for Ukrainian men of draft age.
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