The Norwegian government has announced it will no longer automatically grant asylum to all Ukrainians fleeing the war, marking a shift from its policy of “collective protection” that was introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl stated in a press conference on Friday that, going forward, Ukrainians arriving from six regions in western Ukraine will have their asylum requests reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
These regions — Lviv, Volhynia, Transcarpathia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Rivne — are deemed safe by Norwegian authorities due to their distance from the front lines of the ongoing conflict predominantly in the east and southeast of the country.
