The European Union has agreed to extend the Ukrainian refugee scheme, but will prohibit military age males from applying for protection.
Ambassadors representing the EU’s 27 member states agreed on Wednesday to grant temporary protection status to Ukrainians fleeing until at least March of next year.
However, according to Euronews, males aged 23 to 60 in good physical condition will not be eligible for the special asylum scheme, which provides Ukrainians with immediate residency, the right to work, and access to state-funded housing and social welfare schemes throughout the European Union without having to go through the standard asylum procedures.
After the scheme is officially extended in March of next year, Ukrainians will need to provide proof from their government that they are not liable for military service.
Under the Zelensky government-imposed martial law, men over the age of 23 are prohibited from leaving the country unless given a special exemption from being drafted into the country’s war with Russia.
While the prohibition on Ukrainian males leaving the country has been in place for years, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner previously said that Kyiv specifically asked the bloc to implement the restriction to help retain potential soldiers for the four-and-a-half-year-old war.
Attempts by able-bodied males to avoid being drafted to fight against Russia have been a longstanding issue for Ukraine.
This has manifested in multiple corruption scandals, in which recruitment officers were alleged to have taken bribes from the families of young men seeking to keep their son or other male relatives from having to fight in the bloody conflict that has reportedly resulted in upwards of two million casualties since 2022.
In addition to seeking to block access to Europe’s generous refugee schemes, the Ukrainian government has also been accused of deploying conscription squads to round up alleged draft dodgers off the streets of major cities like Odesa.
According to Euronews, around 4.38 million Ukrainians living in Europe are protected by the scheme. However, it is unclear what percentage of military-age males are ineligible for the temporary protection.