Estonia could help repatriate mobilization-aged Ukrainians

Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets has said that Estonia is ready to help Ukraine mobilize its citizens if necessary.

As Ukraine's counteroffensive appears to have stalled, President Volodymyr Zelensky says they are in need of up to 500,000 additional troops, which is why they are also searching for Ukrainians who have fled to other countries.

More than 7,000 mobilization-aged men from Ukraine have applied for temporary protection in Estonia.

The figure includes, in particular, Ukrainian citizens permanently residing abroad. However, it also includes those who came to Estonia after the outbreak of full-scale war and now live here with a temporary residence permit.

"According to Ukrainian legislation, single parents, parents of at least three children, parents of children with disabilities and people who are caring for a loved one are also not liable for mobilisation. In other words, there are quite a few criteria according to which a person is not subject to conscription," said Läänemets.

While no official requests have been received from Kyiv, the Estonian Ministry of the Interior has repeatedly contacted the Ukrainian ambassador and their interior minister to report refugees in the country if needed.

"We discussed this issue with the Ukrainian ambassador, and Ukraine did not ask us [the Interior Ministry] to do so. Ukraine has no legal grounds to ask us to extradite these citizens, and we have no grounds to extradite them," said Janek Mäggi, head of the Border and Migration Policy Department.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov gave an interview to German Bild. The media somewhat shifted emphasis on the mobilization of men abroad, as well as on the timing of the liberation of Crimea by the Ukrainian military.

Zelensky recently said that the AFU chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi proposed mobilizing up to 400-500 thousand people for counteroffensive actions. The president now "needs more arguments to support this direction."