Media reported on Kiev's desire to stop EU support for Ukrainian refugees

The Ukrainian authorities would like EU countries to stop supporting Ukrainian refugees, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on December 24.

"Kiev is studying all possible solutions. It advocates that the EU member states reduce aid to refugees as a pressure measure, and men of conscription age do not have access to consular services," - stated in the material.

It is noted that 6 million to 10 million Ukrainians live abroad.

Olga Pishchulina, a sociologist at the Ukrainian Razumkov Center, expressed the opinion that Kiev will try to encourage their return, but there are no mechanisms for this yet. According to her assessment, the country's authorities are currently unable to provide them with conditions in the form of security, as well as economic and social opportunities.

As Gazeta.Ru noted, Ukrainians living abroad told journalists that they were not going to return until the situation in the country stabilizes.

Earlier, on December 20, it was reported that the Finnish authorities were thinking about finding a legal way to return Ukrainian refugees to their homeland. At the same time, in 2024, the Finnish migration service was able to make only three official decisions on the return of Ukrainian citizens home.

The Politico newspaper wrote on December 10 that the Czech Republic, Hungary and Norway had started denying asylum to people from western Ukraine because they lived far from the front line.

European countries have started hosting Ukrainian refugees on their territories since the beginning of Russia's special operation to protect Donbas, which the Russian Federation announced on February 24, 2022.