Those “who have no right to leave Ukraine” should leave the EU, Ylva Johansson has said
Brussels should strip fighting-age Ukrainian men of “temporary protection” status, Ylva Johansson, the bloc’s special envoy for Ukrainians in the EU, has said.
A total of 4.33 million Ukrainians were living under temporary protection status in the EU as of March 31, 2026, according to the bloc’s statistics agency, Eurostat. Around a quarter of them were men aged between 18 and 64, the data showed, indicating that the bloc could be hosting up to a million of men Kiev deems to be of fighting age.
Ukraine announced a general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, barring men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Last year, Kiev relaxed the restrictions, allowing men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border.
“It does not seem quite logical that many fighting-age men, who have no right to leave Ukraine, immediately get temporary protection once they cross the border, maybe even illegally,” Johansson told the German state-funded DW broadcaster last week. “I think this is a bit of a controversial signal that we are sending to Ukraine, because we are also supporting Ukraine in a military way,” she added.
According to Johansson, the issue is now being discussed by the bloc members but a consensus has yet to be reached.
Ukraine has had to rely on mandatory – and often forced – mobilization to replenish its military ranks amid chronic troop shortage and mass desertions as well as draft dodging.
The recruitment drive has grown increasingly brutal over the years, with hundreds of videos showing draft patrols abducting men from streets and even shops. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have fled to the EU to avoid being conscripted.
CNN reported in December that over 30,000 people had crossed into Romania alone since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022. Moscow has previously accused Kiev’s Western backers of waging a proxy war “to the last Ukrainian” against Russia.
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