Poland calls for end to EU benefits for Ukrainian men of fighting age

Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski urged EU governments to stop providing social support to Ukrainian men of fighting age who are refugees in their countries.

During the Yalta European Strategy, a forum for discussing Ukraine’s European future which was held in Kyiv, Sikorski said that to "help Ukraine's war effort", there should be "no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine."

He made reference to Russian drones crossing into NATO members' airspace as reasons for EU governments to stop paying social security benefits to men of draft age, and strengthen defence efforts against Russia.

On 8 September, two NATO members said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one flew into Romania during night-time attacks on neighbouring Ukraine while another crashed in eastern Latvia.

The drone entered Romanian territory as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, Romania's Ministry of National Defence reported. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions.

Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Sprūds said a Russian drone fell the day before near the town of Rezekne, and had likely strayed into Latvia from neighbouring Belarus.

Rezekne, home to over 25,000 people, lies some 55 kilometres west of Russia and around 75 kilometres from Belarus, the Kremlin’s close and dependent ally.

Sikorski said that money could be spent on the prevention of these airspace violations, stating that would help both Ukraine and Europe. "As you know, a significant proportion of Russian missiles and, and drones go AWOL," he said. "The Russians lose control over them. As has already been said, even the