European governments should stop paying social benefits to Ukrainians of military age living in their countries, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after a meeting in kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrei Sibiga. US News reports this with reference to Reuters.
According to Sikorsky, this will help Ukraine to increase the size of its armed forces. Moreover, ending social benefits for Ukrainian male refugees will benefit the budgets of host countries in Western Europe.
“Stop paying these social benefits to people who are subject to conscription in Ukraine. There should be no financial incentive to avoid conscription. This (assignment. – EADaily) is not a person’s right to receive money to avoid compulsory military service in order to protect his country. We do not do this in Poland.” – Sikorsky said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiga welcomed Sikorsky’s appeal.
“It is time to really raise the question of whether the European Union is developing programmes to return Ukrainians to their homeland. Of course, it is necessary to create the right conditions for this. But it should be on the agenda. And I support Minister Sikorsky’s idea,” – said Sibiga.
More than 4.1 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in EU countries in July this year and around 22% of them were adult men, according to Eurostat data.
