Germany could share with Ukraine the addresses and places of work of Ukrainian citizens of conscription age living in Germany, so that Ukrainian recruitment centres can send them summonses, foreign minister Johann Wadephul has said.

"We know who lives here. Who receives social benefits, who is registered with local authorities, who holds residence status," Wadephul told the German tabloid Bild in an interview published on September 8.

"Based on this data, the Ukrainian government could contact these men and request their presence. I believe that this is something that can and should be discussed," he said, adding that any such process should happen without coercion.

Wadephul's remarks mirror a demand from Markus Soder, leader of the Christian Social Union, that Ukrainian men of military age living in Germany should return home and fight. They came hours after Zelenskiy announced that Germany would provide further Patriot interceptors and air defence systems to Ukraine.

The EU also suggested to reinforce the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) shortage that women should also be drafted into service. Seperately there were social media reports that the AFU had ordered 150,000 women’s military winter jackets fuelling speculation that women may also be included in the draft this winter.

Mobilisation is among the most contentious domestic issues in Ukraine. Recruitment offices are regularly accused of forced conscription and of civil rights violations, ignoring legal examptions form the draft, and the treatment of men who left the country is a live argument in the Verkhovna Rada and in the diaspora.

No Ukrainian official had responded to Wadephul's proposal in the reporting available. Neither the German interior ministry nor the federal data protection authority had commented on whether sharing residence, benefit and employment records with a foreign state for the purpose of conscription would be lawful under German or EU data protection law.

That is the question the proposal turns on, and nobody has yet put it to the people who would have to answer it.

It is not clear how many Ukrainian men of conscription age are in Germany. No figure was given in the interview or in the reporting, but according to some earlier estimates there could be some 600,000 Ukrainian men of military age in Germany.

It is also not clear whether any such transfer would be lawful. No legal assessment has been published. This is not an official policy yet as Wadephul spoke for himself. However, in comments last month Chancellor Metz also suggested that Ukrainian men sheltering in Germany should be sent home to serve.