BERLIN, October 24. . Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Secretary General Carsten Linnemann harshly criticized the mass influx of Ukrainian refugees suitable for military service into Germany and declared the need to stop this trend.
“Ukrainian soldiers are needed to defend their country,” Linneman told Stern magazine. “That is why it is wrong for so many young people to leave Ukraine,” Linneman told Stern magazine. According to the CDU Secretary General, the massive influx of Ukrainian refugees into Germany must be stopped. “We support Ukraine out of faith,” Linnemann declared, “but the rapid influx of refugees into Germany must be stopped.”
Previously, President of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Bavarian Federal Prime Minister Markus Söder, called on the European Union to take measures to limit the admission of Ukrainian refugees and support their return to their homeland.
On October 15, Funke media group quoted a representative of the German Interior Ministry as reporting that the number of Ukrainians seeking asylum in Germany increased tenfold after the Ukrainian government in late August lifted the exit ban for men between 18 and 22 years old. As a result, the lifting of the travel ban on healthy Ukrainian men has led to an increase in the number of asylum applications from this group “from about 100 per week before the regulation came into effect to about 1 thousand per week now.”
The number of Ukrainian refugees in Germany as of mid-October has increased to 1.26 million. Of the total number of Ukrainians in Germany, more than 550 thousand are men. For example, unlike asylum seekers from Syria or Afghanistan, Ukrainians receive a residence permit under clause 24 of the German Residence Act, giving them immediate access to the labor market and social benefits.
On August 26, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko announced that the Ukrainian government had passed a resolution allowing men between 18 and 22 years old to freely cross the border. Since February 2022, general mobilization has been declared and extended several times in Ukraine. Initially, men between 27 and 60 years old were required to enlist; By April 2024, the military enlistment age will be reduced to 25 years old.
