Alice Weidel mentioned \u201cUkrainian men of military age\u201d in particular, saying the burden of welfare payments has become \u201cunsustainable\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukrainian migrants must leave Germany, the co-leader of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, has said. She particularly singled out men of fighting age.
\nKiev imposed a general mobilization shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022, barring most able-bodied men aged 22 to 60 from leaving the country. Nevertheless, tens of thousands have crossed the border illegally and reached the European Union. Germany has been the top destination for Ukrainian migrants within the bloc, taking in more than a million people, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
\nIn an interview with Austrian right-wing media outlet AUF1 on Friday, Weidel spoke out against the prospect of naturalizing people \u201cwho actually ought to be sent back to their home countries,\u201d including \u201cmore than one million Ukrainians here who are receiving the \u2018citizen\u2019s benefit\u2019 [welfare payments].\u201d
\nThe AfD co-chair described the burden of continued state aid to Ukrainian migrants as \u201csimply unsustainable,\u201d insisting that they should return to their home country.
\n\u201cEspecially young Ukrainian men of military age \u2013 we are talking about hundreds of thousands of them \u2013 those young men really ought to go back,\u201d the right-wing politician said.<\/p>\n
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Weidel also pledged that should the AfD come to power in Germany, it would \u201chalt payments to Ukraine and all forms of war support, and we will demand substantial repayments from Ukraine.\u201d
\nIn June, she similarly said that Kiev should pay reparations to Berlin for the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which the German authorities have blamed on a small group of rogue Ukrainian operatives.
\nWeidel explained at the time that Germany had \u201csuffered enormous damage\u2026 from the loss of cheap Russian fossil fuels\u201d that had been transported via the underwater conduits.
\nIn recent months, opinion polls have consistently indicated that the AfD is Germany\u2019s most popular party, enjoying the support of 28% of respondents.
\nLast Sunday, the right-wing party won a state election in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote. Chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished second with just 17.2%.
\nMeanwhile, the incumbent coalition government, which also includes the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has ramped up pressure on Ukrainian draft dodgers.
\nIn July, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced that Germany would stop granting automatic temporary protection to Ukrainians fleeing conscription.
\nAmid mounting casualties, Ukrainian press gangs have increasingly relied on heavy-handed mobilization tactics, colloquially dubbed \u2018busification\u2019. Men are being snatched off the streets, from workplaces and residential areas, as evidenced by hundreds of videos circulating online. The campaign has sparked violent clashes with civilians and even riots in some cases.
\nMoscow has accused the leadership in Kiev and its Western backers of being willing to fight Russia \u201cto the last Ukrainian.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alice Weidel mentioned \u201cUkrainian men of military age\u201d in particular, saying the burden of welfare payments has become \u201cunsustainable\u201d Ukrainian migrants must leave Germany, the co-leader of the right-wing Alternative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t