Nearly 20,000 men have fled Ukraine since the outbreak of war in February 2022 to avoid being called up for military service, according to a review by the commission. BBC.
Another 21,113 Ukrainian men tried to flee the country, but were stopped by Ukrainian authorities.
The TV channel reported that most Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 refuse to leave the country. Men with health problems, caring responsibilities, or parents with three or more children are exempt from conscription in Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities state that 6,800 of about 21,000 men caught trying to escape were carrying false papers stating they were exempt from military service.
The Immigration Directorate (UDI) reports that just over twelve thousand Ukrainian men of “service age” have applied for asylum in Norway.
– From the outbreak of war until 10/31/2023, 12,549 Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 received collective protection in Norway, the head of the UDI Protection Department, Runar Pedersen, told Nettavisen.
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– She should be sent home
UDI confirms to Nettavisen that Ukrainian male asylum seekers cited “military evasion” or “fear of being called up for military service” as the reason they wanted asylum in Norway.
“Some people give this as a reason, but we don’t keep statistics on this,” says Pedersen.
The UDI states that if they receive information that someone has evaded military service in Ukraine, they can still qualify for protection in Norway.
Retired Lieutenant General and former Army Chief Robert Mudd believes that Ukrainian men who evaded military service should be sent back to Ukraine.
– Zelensky expressed several times the need to register men of military age to serve and help defend their country. Basically, it is unacceptable to accept them in Norway. “Then they have to be sent home again,” Maude tells Netavicin.
-If you transfer this to Norwegian conditions, failure to show up for duty is a criminal offence. I don’t know if that is punishable in Ukraine. But Zelensky repeatedly referred to their duty to defend their homeland, Mudd says.
– According to Norwegian logic and legislation when it comes to avoiding military service, and Zelensky’s calls, we are harming Ukraine if we allow these men to remain in Norway instead of defending their country, he said.
May be eligible for collective protection
UDI says Ukrainians who may have evaded military service are being assessed on the basis of collective protection.
Collective protection means that the need for protection is not assessed by the Migration Service individually, but “provides protection to Ukrainians fleeing war in Ukraine and their family members as a group.”
– When Ukrainian refugees come to Norway, we think about whether they should be included in collective protection or whether they should be treated as individual asylum seekers. In order to receive collective protection, a person must have lived in Ukraine when the war broke out on February 24, 2022, he says. Pedersen at UDI.
– Military service evasion in Ukraine is not something the Immigration Service is specifically investigating. He says that if we receive information that someone has evaded military service, they can still qualify for collective protection.
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This summer, a corruption scandal in the Ukrainian armed forces was exposed. Many officials at the military recruitment center are said to have received bribes from men who wanted to avoid military service.
He writes that this happened at the same time when the country was in desperate need of more recruits to defend the country Watchman.
The corruption issue led to several dismissals.
President Zelensky said in a statement: – This recruitment system must be led by people who know exactly the purpose of war, and that cynicism and bribery in wartime is treason.
Estimate: 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed
The exact numbers of dead Ukrainian soldiers or the number of soldiers ready to fight is a well-kept secret.
The United States estimated this summer that up to 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war so far, according to estimates. New York times. In this case, 40,000 men who fled or attempted to flee Ukraine could replace a large percentage of the fallen soldiers, whose number is estimated at 70,000.
Relatively new Defense Minister Rustam Umarov was able to reveal this fall that Ukraine has one million soldiers, including 800,000 serving in the country’s armed forces. Omerov said this during the Yalta European Strategic Forum conference, according to POLITICO.
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Member of the Ukrainian Parliament Feder Venislavsky claims the opposite BBC The men who left the country, or tried to leave the country, had little impact on the war effort.
– Those who tried to escape mobilization constitute about 1 to 5 percent. He tells the BBC that they are certainly not decisive in defending Ukraine.
The BBC further wrote that many men travel abroad to reunite with their families, study or earn money for a living.
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