German government affirms Ukrainian men will not lose refugee status

According to Maximilian Kall, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, the refugee status in Germany will remain unchanged despite Ukraine's decision to halt consular services for citizens of conscription age outside the country.

He said this in a comment to Deutsche Welle.

"I am sure that this will not affect the status of refugees from Ukraine who need protection, regardless of whether they are women, who are the overwhelming majority of such refugees, or men," Kall emphasized.

He added that Ukrainian refugees have such temporary protection in all European Union countries due to the fact that they were forced to leave their homeland to escape Russian aggression.

At the same time, the German government did not want to comment on Kyiv's decision to suspend consular services for Ukrainian men of military age.

"This is Ukraine's sovereign decision, and I cannot comment on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative, Christian Wagner.

As previously reported, Poland's Defense Minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, stated that his country is prepared to aid Ukraine in repatriating conscription-age men.

"I believe a lot of Polish people get upset when they come across young Ukrainian men in hotels and cafes and hear about the amount of effort we have to put in to support Ukraine," he said.

At the same time, Kosiniak-Kamysz did not explain how Poland would solve this issue.

According to Eurostat estimates, as of the beginning of 2024, 4.3 million Ukrainians lived in EU countries, of which about 860,000 were adult men.

Poland granted temporary protection to 950,000 Ukrainians, which is the second-highest figure after Germany.

For reference:

On April 11, the Ukrainian parliament passed the "Law on Amendments to Selected Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Military Service, Mobilization, and Military Registration" in its second reading. It has already been signed by the President and published. On April 23, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, announced the suspension of consular services for Ukrainian men who are of conscription age and currently living abroad. He stated that being outside the country does not relieve citizens from their duties to their country, including updating their information with their local military authorities. As a result, he has instructed certain services to be withheld from these individuals.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs later indicated that after the mobilization law enters into force on May 18, 2024, "the process of accepting and considering applications for consular actions will continue taking into account the new requirements arising from the provisions of the law."

In turn, the European Union declared that they "took into account" the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to suspend the provision of services to men of mobilization age in diplomatic institutions.

On April 24th, the Ukrainian government prohibited Ukrainian citizens and men of the conscription age from sending their passports abroad for travel purposes. This is stated in the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine [government – ed.] No. 443.

The resolution reads as follows, "Obtaining a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, a passport of a citizen of Ukraine for traveling abroad by a male citizen of Ukraine aged 18 to 60 years is carried out at a territorial body/territorial unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Such passports are not forwarded to a separate unit or foreign diplomatic institution of Ukraine for the organization of their issuance."