EU plans to strip temporary protection from Ukrainian men of military age

The European Union is reviewing a proposal to remove the temporary protection status granted to Ukrainian men of conscription age who are currently residing in member states. The measure, discussed at an interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, would apply to men aged roughly 23 to 60 and could affect up to 200,000 individuals, according to UNHCR data. It is supported by several member governments and the Ukrainian authorities, who argue that it would ease migration pressures on the EU and allow Ukraine to mobilise additional combatants.

If adopted, the policy would force the affected refugees to return to Ukraine to fight, raising legal and humanitarian concerns about the principle of non‑refoulement. Spain, which hosts more than 180,000 Ukrainian refugees, would be directly impacted, as would Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, the three countries with the highest numbers of beneficiaries. About 26.6% of Ukrainian refugees in Europe are men, though exact figures for those of military age are unclear. While some states favour stricter rules, others, including Italy and Belgium, oppose limiting the scheme, and proposals to exclude refugees from “safe zones” in Ukraine have also been rejected.