Over the past two and a half years, Norway, with a population of 5.6 million, has welcomed around 85,000 Ukrainians, a figure Oslo claims surpasses that of its Nordic neighbors. Moving forward, Norwegian immigration authorities will assess asylum applications individually for residents of six western Ukrainian regions, which are deemed safe due to their distance from the front lines of the conflict.

The six are Lviv, Volhynia, Transcarpathia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Rivne.

The government said the decision was taken because the high number of refugees was putting a strain on housing, health care and schools in some cities.

Enger Mehl also noted that “a rising share” of the Ukrainian asylum seekers were “men, including many of fighting age”, at a time when Ukraine is struggling to recruit troops to fight the Russian offensive.