Ukraine updates: Kyiv strikes Russia after Kharkiv attack – DW – 06/23/2024

German opposition politician Alexander Dobrindt on Sunday suggested that only Ukrainians who have found jobs in Germany should be allowed to stay in the country.

His statement was immediately criticized by members of the ruling SPD and Green coalition parties.

Dobrindt, who hails from Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), told the German tabloid Bild am Sonntag that Berlin should tell Ukrainians here — “Work in Germany or return to a safe area in western Ukraine.” He also called for changes to the status afforded Ukrainians who flee to Germany. 

After Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Berlin announced that fleeing Ukrainians would not have to apply for asylum, instead they would automatically receive residency status and welfare payments.

Dobrindt’s idea of repatriation was rebutted by several politicians, including Saskia Esken, chair of the ruling Social Democrats (SPD), who said the main reason so few Ukrainians were working was not that they preferred welfare payments but that German politicians had not done enough to ensure that their children could attend day care or kindergarten.

Omid Nouripour, head of the Green Party, said that to suggest Ukrainians were simply here for the money was to “ignore the horrors of Putin’s war.” 

Both SPD and Green politicians accused Dobrindt of drumming up prejudice against Ukrainians.

Last week, the government in Berlin declared its intention to continue payments to some 1.17 million Ukrainian refugees in Germany — the large majority of whom are women and children.  

According to Germany’s Ministry of Labor, roughly 185,000 Ukrainians have regular jobs, another 47,000 are employed part-time or temporarily.