Zelenskyy asks allies to bring back Ukrainian men of military age but was refused – Bloomberg

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has turned to the authorities of Western states Ukrainians fled to with a request to send men of military age back to Ukraine but they did not agree.

Source: Bloomberg

Details: Bloomberg reports that Zelenskyy tried to convince his allies to help him bring back the men of military age to Ukraine. He discussed this issue with them at bilateral meetings but "Politicians from Poland to Hungary have said they won’t send refugees back as long as the war rages on".

Bloomberg noted that there is also an economic reason for such a refusal: many companies in these countries lack employees, for instance, for newly built car factories or battery plants.

Moreover, Ukrainian refugee households in Poland support themselves, with 80% of their incomes coming from local jobs. In Czechia Ukrainian refugees paid twice as much in taxes in the first quarter of the year as they received in welfare benefits. The country also has the lowest unemployment level in the EU – 2.7% which makes the search for employees harder.

"To be blunt, many Czech companies depend on Ukrainian refugees’ skills and hard work. The construction industry, for example, would come to a complete standstill without Ukrainian workers," said Tomas Prouza, the head of the main lobby group for the Czech retail and hospitality industry.

Bloomberg noted that Europe sheltered millions of Ukrainian refugees after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The European governments provided them with a special status and financial aid.

The UN Agency for Refugees’ Affairs reports that about 5 million Ukrainians remain refugees in Western states.

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