"That is 14 percent of all persons who have been granted temporary protection in Estonia. Looking at the last month, children made up 28 percent, women 41 percent and men 31 percent. And that is counting all men, Kallas said when answering EKRE MP Peeter Ernits.

The PM explained that those men aged 18-60 who are single fathers, have three or more children or a disability, study at foreign universities, drive humanitarian aid vehicles or have a permanent foreign residence permit are not subject to the ban on leaving Ukraine.

"Specialists of various fields have also been granted exceptions. For example, male employees of exporting companies can spend time abroad since the start of September. IT experts have been able to leave Ukraine since June."

Kallas admitted that since Russia has deported Ukrainians to Russia, Estonia has also received Ukrainian men who have escaped from Russia.

"Therefore, men make up 14 percent [of refugees] in all and 4,898 are in the 18-60 age bracket. They do not feature prominently in the grand scheme of things, and we are mostly hosting women and children. But yes, the relative importance of men has grown in the last month."

Data from the Social Insurance Board reveals that 100,082 refugees have entered Estonia since the Ukraine war started of whom 56,566 have remained in Estonia, while 43,516 or 43.5 percent have moved on to other countries. Of refugees to have crossed the Estonian border, 25,235 or 25.2 percent have been minors.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!