The outflow accelerated after Kyiv relaxed mobilization rules in late August, allowing men aged 18–22 to travel abroad despite martial law, the British newspaper said, citing figures from Poland’s Border Guard.
Under wartime rules introduced after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, men aged 18–60 were barred from leaving even if not eligible for service.
August changes lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25 and permitted limited departures for younger men.
Authorities had hoped the adjustment would encourage young Ukrainians to return and enlist later and deter families from sending teenage boys abroad before they turned 18, The Telegraph recalled. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in August that such practices risked weakening young people’s ties to Ukraine, the paper added.
Polish data show that from January through August—just before the rule change—about 45,300 Ukrainian men aged 18–22 entered Poland. Over the next two months, the total more than doubled to 98,000, averaging roughly 1,600 per day, the newspaper reported.
Germany has also seen a rise. Weekly arrivals of young Ukrainians climbed from several dozen to about 1,000 by mid-September and to 1,400–1,800 by mid-October, the paper said, citing local German press.
The influx is fueling pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to curb support for refugees, with the far-right AfD urging Berlin to halt aid to Ukrainians and oppose further military assistance to Kyiv, according to the report.
Juergen Hardt, the CDU’s foreign policy lead, told Politico that Ukraine’s legal changes had “triggered an emigration trend that (Germany) must address.”
Ukraine’s army numbers nearly 800,000 troops, while an estimated 60,000–100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the war’s start, the report said, citing the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Separately, the United States said on Wednesday it would reduce troop numbers in NATO’s eastern flank countries, but U.S. Army Europe stressed the move was not a withdrawal from Europe nor a signal of weaker commitment to NATO and Article 5, The Telegraph reported.
(jh)
Source: The Telegraph, PAP