Kremlin Trolls Zelensky After Berlin Urges Ukraine To Take Back Fighting-Age Males

The Russian Foreign Ministry has mocked the German government’s pleas to Ukraine to keep its fighting-age young men from flooding Germany and the rest of Europe.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday acknowledged the pressing problem in televised remarks discussing Ukraine’s manpower woes with President Zelensky, pleading with him to “ensure that young men in particular from Ukraine do not come to Germany in large numbers.”

Ukrainians should remain to “serve in their own country,” Merz had said. “They are needed there,” the chancellor added.

As of October 2025, over 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded in Germany – which is the highest number among all EU countries.

Responding to all of this awkward dialogue between Berlin and Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova posted on Friday a sarcastic reenactment of the exchange, also featured in Russian media:

“Merz: Herr Zelensky, take Ukrainians back from Germany. Zelensky: Herr Merz, I lack the tools to get them killed in large quantities. If you send more weapons and money, we will close borders and further lower the conscription age. Otherwise, expect a greater influx.”

The Zelensky government has long come under severe criticism, even from allied Western backers, over the country’s recruitment as well as border policies related to age.

His administration recently relaxed exit rules related to martial law, just months ago for the first time of the war letting Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 leave the country. Ukrainian citizens can’t even be drafted until they are 25, under current law.

Meanwhile, intense trolling from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been consistent from nearly the start of the war:

💬 #Zakharova: We advise the current generation of Ukrainian neo-Nazis who slavishly follow their fascist idols of the Third Reich to reread the publicly available archival materials with the statements of the leaders of Nazi Germany about Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/5SSvCSDAUo

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) May 3, 2024

Kyiv Post has documented the natural result as follows:

Germany said that young Ukrainian men began arriving in large numbers after Kyiv eased travel rules for those aged between 18 and 22 in August.

As a result, the number of Ukrainian men in this age group registering in Germany went from 100 a week to almost 1,000, according to the German Interior Ministry.

…Around 490,000 Ukrainians of working age staying in Germany are receiving unemployment benefits, a point of criticism from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

American officials have also criticized Ukraine’s policy, given in most militaries in the world, eighteen makes one eligible to be recruited.