Give Us More Weapons to Cut Mass Migration to Europe, Says Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing a food crisis that will force more migrants from the developing world to head to Europe, so the continent should give Kyiv more weapons to end the conflict sooner, they say.

Hunger in the developing world drives mass migration to Europe, and Russia is deliberately targeting Ukraine’s food export infrastructure which in peacetime forwards millions of tons of grain to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, a top Kyiv official points out in a pitch for further weapon deliveries. If Europe wants to slow down migratory waves — which are again surging to levels last seen in the 2015-16 migrant crisis — the continent should give more weapons to Ukraine quickly, says deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council Denys Marchuk.

There is a clear link between how quickly European nations hand over stocks of weapons to Ukraine and how many migrants will attempt to travel to Europe, Marchuk said in an appeal for missiles on Ukrainian Radio yesterday. {snip}

“It is food aggression and food terrorism to the whole world, which will lead to an increase in food prices… For poor countries, there will be a problem with increasing risks of hunger. The possibility of waves of migrations is not excluded. People will go to more prosperous countries, in particular the European Union… In these conditions, it is necessary to speed up armaments,” he added.

{snip}

Unrelated to the specific form of migration alluded by the Ukrainian Agrarian Council’s Denys Marchuk is Ukrainian refugees themselves, who have fled to the European Union in enormous numbers to escape the violence. {snip}

{snip} As research earlier this month found, nearly half of Ukrainian refugees in Germany said they want to stay in Germany “forever” or at least for “a few more years”. Just 31 per cent of those polled said they want to return to their homeland upon the conclusion of the war.