President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that men of conscription age who illegally left Ukraine should return to the country and pay taxes here.
He told about this in an interview with the German TV channel ARD.
According to the president, at the beginning of the full-scale war, people went abroad for various reasons.
"People saved their children, and everyone completely understands that. Some left, and some stayed here. It was each personʼs choice, and thatʼs a fact. Someone came back today, and we are grateful to them. Not only to fight, but also to build and work. There is a feeling that it is only about the front," said Zelenskyy.
He noted that the front remains the number one issue, but Ukraine has a million-strong army, and about 30 million are working.
"This refers to all people in Ukraine. They all protect the country in their places, there are defense enterprises, there are teachers, doctors," the president said.
The head of state emphasized that the Ukrainian authorities would like people who left illegally to return to the country.
“The issue is not that they should be in the army, we want them to pay the taxes from which we pay the salaries of the soldiers. Iʼm not yelling at Olaf Scholz to bring them back, weʼre in a democratic world. It is necessary for the law to work, according to which the bodies perform their functions," he summarized.
- Almost 190,000 Ukrainian men of military age (18 to 60 years old) currently live in Germany. Such data were reported by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany. According to the ministry, almost 222,000 Ukrainian men of draft age have arrived in the country since the start of the full-scale invasion, but some of them have left the country. It is not known how many of them entered and remained in Germany without violating Ukrainian laws.