Flow of Ukrainians to Czechia drops sharply after ban on men of conscription age

The number of men of fighting age arriving in Czechia from Ukraine has dropped sharply since the country stopped granting them temporary protection. This was announced by Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar (ANO movement).

"The influx of arrivals is falling — there are far fewer men in this age group now. In the first weeks after the restriction took effect, we saw a drop in the number of men aged 23 to 60: they used to make up twenty percent of arrivals, and now it's only seven percent," the minister said.

Who is being turned away now

According to the Interior Ministry, Czechia is currently home to more than 398,000 refugees from Ukraine — the highest figure per capita of any EU country.

Temporary protection is a special status that allows people fleeing the war in Ukraine to live and work in EU countries. Its validity has now been extended until March 2027, but EU member states have agreed to stop granting it to newly arriving men of fighting age — from 23 to 60 — unless they have already fulfilled their military service obligations. Czechia has been applying this rule since August 5. "We're recording dozens of such cases every day," said ministry spokeswoman Hana Malá.

The new rule applies only to men who arrived after August 5 and does not affect those who received protection earlier. Ukraine itself pushed for this restriction: the country needs men of this age not only as soldiers but also for the future reconstruction of war-torn territories. "Ukraine itself has an interest in men staying or returning in the event of a ceasefire. A long road to rebuilding the country lies ahead," Metnar explained earlier.

Week-by-week figures

The ministry keeps records of arrivals by sex and age. While the "23-60" category isn't tracked separately, there's a closely related figure for "men aged 18-65," which already shows a decline. From July 13 to 20, 494 men in this age group arrived in Czechia; from August 17 to 24, that number had dropped to just 305.

The Czech Interior Ministry under Metnar had long advocated for such a restriction. "This decision will reduce the number of new arrivals and could ease the strain on Czechia's capacity," ministry spokesman Adam Rözler said even before the ban took effect.

Why men began to outnumber women

In recent years, the share of men among refugees has been steadily growing, and last year they outnumbered women for the first time: women made up just 48.3%, compared to 56.3% in 2024.

The statistics were affected by a decision made by Kyiv at the end of last August, which allowed men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country — they are exempt from military service, which begins at 25 (those aged 23 to 25 are classified as reservists). Last autumn, up to a thousand young Ukrainian men a week were arriving in Czechia; the figure later fell to the hundreds. Business representatives welcomed the influx of working-age men. "This is a very important addition to the workforce that will help the economy in construction, engineering, and logistics," said Tomáš Prouza, president of the Confederation of Commerce and Tourism and vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Read also: Extension of temporary protection in Czechia for Ukrainians

Source: novinky.cz