Thousands of Ukrainian men in Poland face declining living standards and rising uncertainty, but going home means risking being sent to the front and death.
Ukrainian men who fled mobilization to go to the neighboring country are caught between politics and war, and now face legal limbo.
On one end, Poland is toughening its policies on Ukrainian refugees. On the other, Kiev is upping the pressure to mobilize more men, in the fifth year of Russia’s invasion.
In a hostel on the outskirts of Warsaw, teenager Dmytro longed to go home.
“If I could, I’d pack my suitcase right now and leave by foot for Ukraine,” the 18-year-old told AFP.
“But I have no future there.”
He was 17 when he left his town in central Ukraine, fearful of being sent to the battlefield where hundreds of thousands have died on both sides.
“I thought that if I did not leave before my 18th birthday, I’d be finished,” Dmytro said.
He now lives outside the Polish capital in the hostel, with some 100 other Ukrainian men, who mostly work in factories, warehouses and for delivery companies.
Their future is shrouded in doubt.
Poland, which hosts around 1 million Ukrainian refugees, ended special support measures for those displaced by the war in March, after Warsaw elected nationalist president Karol Nawrocki.
Since then, Ukrainians have faced stricter rules, similar to those for other foreigners in a country with one of Europe’s toughest migration policies.
“It’s hitting the most vulnerable groups and it’s a deep disgrace for the Polish state,” said Anna Tatar, a representative of Polish anti-racism NGO “Never Again.”
The situation is especially precarious for men escaping the front, who Poland has in the past argued should not be granted protection.
Ukraine, which mobilizes some 30,000 men every month, is also tightening the screws.
Viktoria Korzhova, a member of a Ukrainian law firm in Poland, said she had seen an increase in Ukrainians asking for help to legalize their status since March.
Last month, the European Commission announced plans to exclude Ukrainian men aged 23 to 60 from its temporary protection program.
The bloc said the decision was taken at Ukraine’s request.
But Andriy Gaidutsky, a Ukrainian migration expert, predicted the move would push Ukrainian men to apply for long-term residency in Europe.
“If people used to leave for economic reasons, today many men leave due to the risk of losing their lives or their health,” he said.
Adding to their uncertainty, Kiev has since last year restricted men abroad from accessing consular services unless they update their military records, a task many avoid, fearing mobilization.
On top of their legal problems, the men also face growing anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland, made worse by a recent diplomatic spat between the neighbors over World War II events.
More than half of Poles say their attitude towards Ukraine has become more negative since the row, according to pollster SW Research.
