German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said that Ukraine’s problems in mobilizing soldiers to repel the Russian invasion will not have any practical consequences for Ukrainians living in Germany.
The minister said in press statements, “We will not force people to perform compulsory military service, or military service against their will.”
The minister added on December 21, “It was good that war refugees from Ukraine were accepted into Germany, in an uncomplicated procedure, and they were given the opportunity to work,” according to the Deutsche Welle website.
He continued, “Ultimately, we seek to attract more people from Ukraine to work so that fewer of them end up living on social security.”
Discussions are currently taking place in Ukraine about how the army can recruit more soldiers. The army wants to mobilize between 450,000 and 500,000 men.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense appeals to the country’s citizens abroad to return and join the ranks of the army to defend their homeland against the ongoing Russian invasion.
However, there are no plans to bring Ukrainian men from abroad and recruit them under pressure, nor are there any plans to impose sanctions or legal pressure on those who remain outside Ukraine, Defense Ministry spokesman Ilarion Pavlyuk said.
It is noteworthy that there are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians registered as war refugees in Germany and other countries.
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 who are fit for military service are not officially allowed to leave the country, although many men were able to leave.
For his part, Deputy Chairman of the Christian Union Parliamentary Group, Johann Vadepaul, said on the German “Welt” TV channel that he understands “the concerns of the Ukrainians and the Ministry of Defence. It is an urgent moral call, and we should certainly support it politically without harming the lives of people here.”
“We simply must do our part to put an end to this war,” he added.
In a press conference held on December 19, Ukrainian President Zelensky addressed for the first time the issue of mobilization that will take place on a large scale in Ukraine, as he said that the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces asked him to conduct a mobilization to recruit 450-500 thousand additional soldiers.
According to Zelensky, mobilizing this number will cost Ukraine 500 billion hryvnia ($13.4 billion).