Head of Ukraine’s State Migration Service Nataliia Naumenko said the number of cases involving the return of Ukrainian citizens from EU countries under readmission procedures is growing. She said this in an interview with Glavkom.
According to Naumenko, European countries are increasingly discussing mechanisms for returning Ukrainians and are gradually tightening conditions for Ukrainian citizens staying abroad.
She noted that some countries are already reducing social payments, limiting access to housing, or stopping the acceptance of new applications for temporary protection.
“So moving from Germany, which is introducing certain restrictions, to the Czech Republic will no longer work. Because if the Czech Republic sees that a Ukrainian citizen had temporary protection in Germany, it will no longer grant its own temporary protection,” the head of the State Migration Service explained.
According to her, European Union countries are pursuing a policy “not exactly of pushing Ukrainians out, but of stabilizing Ukrainian citizens within their own systems.”
Naumenko also said that Ukraine is receiving many requests from Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany regarding the return of Ukrainians — both men and women — under readmission procedures.
“In this regard, we are already observing serious momentum,” she said.
The head of the State Migration Service recalled that the readmission agreement between Ukraine and the European Community has been in force since before the full-scale war. According to her, since 2024 EU countries have increasingly used this mechanism to return Ukrainian citizens who violated migration laws.
This concerns, in particular, people who crossed the border illegally, failed to obtain residence documents, or committed offenses that resulted in the loss of their legal right to stay in the EU.
