The European Union is not going to resort to the forced return of its male citizens of mobilization age to Ukraine, because this contradicts the directive on temporary protection.
Points of attention
- The European Union refuses the forced return of Ukrainian men of mobilization age to Ukraine.
- However, the EU is ready to support those who want to return to Ukraine to protect their homeland.
- European politicians, in particular the head of European diplomacy Radoslav Sikorskyi, call to encourage Ukrainian men of mobilization age to return home.
The EU announced its final decision
European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson made a statement on this occasion.
The politician drew attention to the fact that official Brussels has no right to apply a differentiated approach to Ukrainian citizens who have obtained temporary protection in Europe, based on their age, gender and military duty.
This is impossible under the Temporary Protection Directive, Ylva Johansson emphasized.
Journalists also asked her whether Brussels would help Kyiv return Ukrainian men of conscription age from abroad.
According to the politician, no one will be forcibly expelled from the territory of the European Union.
We will support those who want to return to Ukraine, and we will discuss with the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian government how to do this in the best way. We will not throw anyone out of the EU, promised the representative of the European Commission.
What do other allies of Ukraine say about this?
Recently, the head of European diplomacy, Radoslav Sikorsky, called on Western European countries to reconsider their approach to supporting Ukrainian men of mobilization age.
The latter is convinced that they should be encouraged to return to Ukraine to protect their homeland.
The head of the Ukrainian diplomatic service, Andriy Sybiga, has already publicly supported this idea of his Polish colleague.
Commenting on this topic, the head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry said that Tallinn cooperates with the Ukrainian government and is "checking what international law says about this and how we can act", but that Ukraine is betting on the voluntary return of the men.
