https://sputnikglobe.com/20240101/german-lawmakers-want-to-send-ukrainian-refugees-to-trenches-as-nato-proxy-war-falters-1115930063.html
German Lawmakers Want to Send Ukrainian Refugees to Trenches as NATO Proxy War Falters
German Lawmakers Want to Send Ukrainian Refugees to Trenches as NATO Proxy War Falters
Sputnik International
Germany dramatically ramped up its support for Ukraine in 2023, becoming the second-largest sponsor of the NATO proxy war against Russia amid problems in Washington over the approval of a new $61 billion aid package. Germany is also home to over a million Ukrainian refugees – more than any other European country besides Russia.
2024-01-01T13:15+0000
2024-01-01T13:15+0000
2024-01-01T13:50+0000
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German opposition lawmakers and media are demanding that Berlin reverse course on its policy of not forcing Ukrainian men taking refuge in the country to return home to fight Russia.“Germany pays significantly more for the living expenses of Ukrainian conscientious objectors than it does investing in the training and equipping of Ukrainian defenders against Russian aggression,” FAZ correspondent Peter Carstens wrote, pointing to a campaign by the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to send Ukrainian men home to be drafted.Eurostat estimates that some 650,000 men of draft age have left Ukraine for the EU since 2022, with their proportion rising from seven percent of the total refugee population to nearly 30 percent by September of 2023.“A large proportion of male refugees of military age live in Germany and receive citizens’ benefits. Some work beyond that,” Carstens added.Calculating that Germany has spent some €15 billion of €24 billion in support for Ukraine on refugees, the observer pointed out that by contrast, military aid for Kiev until the end of 2023 was "only" €5.4 billion.According to the German Interior Ministry, some 222,957 Ukrainian men aged 18-60 have been registered as refugees in Germany, with up to 100,000 more estimated to be in the country without registering, and getting by partly thanks to support from their relatives.German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann announced late last month that Berlin will not force Ukrainians to go home to fight against their will.CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter, a former Bundeswehr general staff officer and member of the Atlanticist Atlantik-Brucke association and the Trilateral Commission, has called on the Olaf Scholz government to reconsider its position.Germany, the lawmaker said, could help round up the Ukrainians for military service or homeland defense duties, and even incentivize them by reducing social assistance.But judging by the Ukrainian authorities’ merciless recruitment tactics, which have included rounding up fighting age men in the streets, and even recruiting the mentally disabled, it remains unclear whether Kiev would honor any bilateral agreement with Berlin on alternative service.Estonia became the first EU country to express its readiness to extradite draft-age Ukrainians back home to fight Russia last month, with Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets saying Tallinn would await a formal request by Kiev on the matter. An estimated 7,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have applied for temporary protection in the Baltic country.Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have been killed or gravely injured over the past 22 months in the aftermath of the escalation of the Donbass crisis into a full-blown NATO proxy war against Russia, including over 125,000 troops killed since Kiev launched its ill-fated counteroffensive in June.Amid the bloodshed, which has included Ukrainian troops being shot by "blocking battalions" manned by ultranationalist militants, millions of Ukrainian men have sought to avoid certain death fighting Russia in a pointless conflict which a growing number of Western observers has said Kiev can't win. Some have resorted to hiding inside the country, avoiding public places and not opening their doors to try to prevent being snatched up by recruiters, paying bribes to medical examiners to receive a draft deferral, or leaving the country altogether. Mixed in among the conscientious objectors are nationalists who have cheerled the conflict, but sought to avoid fighting themselves and preferring to join the ranks of keyboard warriors spreading anti-Russian propaganda online from the safety of a foreign country.Ukraine’s recruitment crisis, complemented by dwindling economic support for Kiev by the West as US lawmakers try to tie it to domestic priorities, also comes as Ukraine grapples with a devastating demographic crisis. With its population dropping from 52 million in 1992 to 45.5 million in 2013 and 39 million in 2022, former Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov recently estimated that the country’s population had dwindled to as little as 19 million by late 2023.
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https://sputnikglobe.com/20231223/estonia-ready-to-extradite-draft-age-ukrainian-men---interior-minister-1115763822.html
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why don't ukrainian refugees want to go home to fight russia, why is nato waging a proxy war against russia in ukraine
why don't ukrainian refugees want to go home to fight russia, why is nato waging a proxy war against russia in ukraine
German Lawmakers Want to Send Ukrainian Refugees to Trenches as NATO Proxy War Falters
13:15 GMT 01.01.2024 (Updated: 13:50 GMT 01.01.2024) Berlin dramatically ramped up its support for Ukraine in 2023, becoming the second-largest sponsor of the NATO proxy war against Russia amid problems in Washington over the approval of a new $61 billion aid package. Germany is also home to over a million Ukrainian refugees – more than any other European country besides Russia.
German opposition lawmakers and media are demanding that Berlin reverse course on its policy of not forcing Ukrainian men taking refuge in the country to return home to fight Russia.
“Germany pays significantly more for the living expenses of Ukrainian conscientious objectors than it does investing in the training and equipping of Ukrainian defenders against Russian aggression,” FAZ correspondent Peter Carstens
wrote, pointing to a campaign by the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to send Ukrainian men home to be drafted.
“While the federal government currently supports more than 220,000 men with public money who have fled Ukraine to safety since the start of the war, this year almost 10,000 Ukrainians will be trained and equipped [by Germany, ed.],” the correspondent complained.
Eurostat estimates that some 650,000 men of draft age have left Ukraine for the EU since 2022, with their proportion rising from seven percent of the total refugee population to nearly 30 percent by September of 2023.
“A large proportion of male refugees of military age live in Germany and receive citizens’ benefits. Some work beyond that,” Carstens added.
Calculating that Germany has spent some €15 billion of €24 billion in support for Ukraine on refugees, the observer pointed out that by contrast, military aid for Kiev until the end of 2023 was "only" €5.4 billion.
23 December 2023, 18:55 GMT
According to the German Interior Ministry, some 222,957 Ukrainian men aged 18-60 have been registered as refugees in Germany, with up to 100,000 more estimated to be in the country without registering, and getting by partly thanks to support from their relatives.
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann announced late last month that Berlin will not force Ukrainians to go home to fight against their will.
CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter, a former Bundeswehr general staff officer and member of the Atlanticist Atlantik-Brucke association and the Trilateral Commission, has called on the Olaf Scholz government to reconsider its position.
“It would be very helpful if there was a government agreement which would allow these young men or even older men to return without having to go to the front if they don’t want to,” Kiesewetter said, citing the possibility of alternative service.
Germany, the lawmaker said, could help round up the Ukrainians for military service or homeland defense duties, and even incentivize them by reducing social assistance.
But judging by the Ukrainian authorities’ merciless recruitment tactics, which have included rounding up fighting age men in the streets, and even recruiting
the mentally disabled, it remains unclear whether Kiev would honor any bilateral agreement with Berlin on alternative service.
Estonia
became the first EU country to express its readiness to extradite draft-age Ukrainians back home to fight Russia last month, with Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets saying Tallinn would await a formal request by Kiev on the matter. An estimated 7,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have applied for temporary protection in the Baltic country.
23 December 2023, 09:22 GMT
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have been killed or gravely injured over the past 22 months in the aftermath of the escalation of the Donbass crisis into a full-blown NATO proxy war against Russia, including over 125,000 troops killed since Kiev launched its ill-fated counteroffensive in June.
Amid the bloodshed, which
has included Ukrainian troops being shot by "blocking battalions" manned by ultranationalist militants, millions of Ukrainian men have
sought to avoid certain death fighting Russia in a pointless conflict which
a growing number of Western observers has said Kiev can't win. Some have resorted to hiding inside the country, avoiding public places and not opening their doors to try to prevent being snatched up by recruiters, paying bribes to medical examiners to receive a draft deferral, or leaving the country altogether. Mixed in among the conscientious objectors are nationalists who have cheerled the conflict, but sought to avoid fighting themselves and preferring to join the ranks of keyboard warriors spreading anti-Russian propaganda online from the safety of a foreign country.
19 December 2023, 00:59 GMT
Ukraine’s recruitment crisis, complemented by dwindling economic support for Kiev by the West as US lawmakers try to tie it to domestic priorities, also comes as Ukraine grapples with a devastating demographic crisis. With its population dropping from 52 million in 1992 to 45.5 million in 2013 and 39 million in 2022, former Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov
recently estimated that the country’s population had dwindled to as little as 19 million by late 2023.
