The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, has called on the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to toughen the conditions for leaving the country for young people between 18 and 24 years old, a request that would have been conveyed during the telephone conversation that both had this Thursday.
“I have asked you to make sure that these young people stay in the country, because they are needed there and not in Germany. We need everyone who can contribute, help, until they enter military service in Ukraine,” Merz said after meeting in Berlin with the president of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidis.
According to Merz, “a considerable part of young people between 18 and 24 years old” are currently arriving in Germany from Ukraine, since military service in Ukraine does not begin until the age of 25, before adding that he addressed this issue “very openly” with Zelensky during the conversation on Thursday.
Likewise, he stressed that during the conversation he also conveyed to him the need to initiate an investigation into the recent corruption scandal in kyiv, which affects a plot linked to the energy sector, which is why he urged him to “put an end to this situation as soon as possible and to review the structures with a view to the fight against corruption in Ukraine.”
The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Sviridenko, announced on Thursday that the Government is going to launch a series of audits of all state companies, especially those related to the energy sector, due to the latest corruption scandal related to Energoatom, which has led to the departure of the Ministers of Justice and Energy from the Executive.