Zelensky accused Western countries of exploiting Ukrainian refugees

Western countries use Ukrainians as cheap labor and demand that unemployed refugees be sent back to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office expired on May 20, 2024, said on January 2.

"Where Ukrainians were taken as cheap labor and realized that they are of higher quality than their citizens, those let them be. <...> And about those Ukrainians who do not work there, they say: 'You take them away'," he noted on the air of the all-Ukrainian telethon.

Zelensky also added that he tried to bring this issue up for discussion, but the West refused. The leader emphasized that at the same time Western countries constantly calculate how much money they spend annually to support Ukrainians abroad.

Earlier, on December 24, the El Pais newspaper reported that the Ukrainian authorities would like the European Union (EU) countries to stop supporting Ukrainian refugees.

On the same day, political analyst Ruslan Kalynchuk said that if the Ukrainian conflict continues, Kiev might facilitate the expulsion of the country's citizens who fled to Europe for their subsequent mobilization.

On December 22, the State Border Service of the country reported that over the past 24 hours, 150,000 citizens crossed the Ukrainian border for entry and exit, which is one of the highest figures in recent years. It is noted that the growth of those wishing to leave the country was recorded at all sites.

Before that, on December 20, the portal MTV Uutiset, referring to the data of the Finnish migration service, reported that the Finnish authorities are thinking about finding a legal way to return Ukrainian refugees to Ukraine. As the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented, by authorizing the deportation of Ukrainian refugees, the Finnish authorities are sending them to their deaths, which is "fantastic meanness".