Polish minister, visiting Kyiv, calls for end to benefits for Ukrainian men in Europe

By Olena Harmash

KYIV (Reuters) - European governments should halt welfare benefits to Ukrainian men of military age who are living in their countries, Poland's foreign minister said, a measure he said would help Ukraine call up more troops to fight Russian forces.

Following a meeting in Kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart, Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski said ending social benefits for Ukrainian male refugees would also benefit state finances in host countries in Western Europe.

More than 4.1 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in European Union countries as of July this year, and about 22% of them were adult men, according to data from the EU statistics office, Eurostat.

"Stop paying those social security payments for people who are eligible for the Ukrainian draft. There should be no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine," Sikorski said at a conference of international leaders in Kyiv.

"It's not a human right to be paid to avoid the draft, to defend your country. We in Poland don't do it."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed Sikorski's call.

"It's time really to raise the question of the European Union developing programmes to return Ukrainians home. Certainly, appropriate conditions should be created for this. But this should be on the agenda. And I support the idea of Minister Sikorski," Sybiha said.

Nearly 31 months into the war against Russia and with Moscow's forces slowly but steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv needs more soldiers to maintain its defence lines, rotate out exhausted troops and make up for losses.

Russia has a significant advantage in staff numbers and weapons on the battlefield.

Earlier this year, Ukraine adopted new legislation and implemented other measures, including lowering the call-up age for combat duty to 25 from 27 to increase the pace of mobilisation into the army.

Under the new law, Kyiv ordered Ukrainian men living abroad to renew their military draft information online and encouraged them to return to Ukraine and join the fight.

Ukraine imposed martial law at the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022, banning men aged 18 to 60 from travelling abroad without special permission and beginning a rolling mobilisation of civilian men into the armed forces.

But many men of military age have still fled abroad to avoid the draft amid reports of corruption in the army recruitment system, allowing some men to bribe their way out of army service.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Helen Popper)