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Over 882,000 Ukrainian men now EU refugees — statistics agency

Most Ukrainian refugees live in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic

BRUSSELS, May 8. /TASS/. The number of Ukrainian refugees legally residing in the EU and enjoying temporary protection rights is 4.2 million, 21% of them (882,000) are adult men, the European statistics agency Eurostat reported.

However, the agency does not provide precise data on age groups, which would allow a more accurate estimate of the number of people of military age.

Almost 45.8% of the total number of refugees are adult women, and about 32.8% are minor children. Eurostat does not specify who the other 0.4% of refugees are.

The agency said that 2% of all persons who received refugee status from Ukraine have citizenship of third countries (non-Ukrainian and non-EU states).

Most Ukrainian refugees live in Germany (1.3 million), Poland (955,000) and the Czech Republic (364,000). Eurostat also records a slight decrease in the number of Ukrainian refugees in the countries of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and an increase in Germany and the Netherlands.

In April, the Ukrainian government stopped issuing passports to men between the ages of 18 and 60 and announced the suspension of its consular services abroad. A number of politicians in Eastern European countries have already expressed their willingness to deport undocumented Ukrainian men to their home country for further mobilization.

General mobilization has been announced and repeatedly extended in Ukraine since February 2022, and the authorities are doing everything possible to prevent men of military age from evading service. Military recruiters regularly conduct raids and use force, and even those unfit for military service are drafted. Videos of "forced mobilizations" and conflicts between citizens and military recruiters are regularly circulating on Ukrainian social networks. On April 16, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed the law on tougher mobilization, which will allow hundreds of thousands more Ukrainians to be drafted into the army.

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