Military Service Avoided -- Consular Service Denied

"We all felt like the ground was pulled out from under us. That Ukraine no longer wants to support us."

"It was done as a 'go to hell' move -- 'we will now catch you, to make you feel bad, punish you'."

"I am not afraid to die. My biggest fear is to be captured and experience torture."

Oleksandr, 42, from Kyiv, now in Australia

 

"There will be no restrictions or forced return of Ukrainian citizens of any gender or age to a country that is at war."

"There are no easy solutions to war issues, and let's not forget that the war is ongoing, and we have to win it." 

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna

"I feel like the country I love and cherish is behaving like an immature, offended teenager."

"I have always positioned myself, and will continue to position myself, as a Ukrainian in all situations."

"But if the state considers me a traitor, I must admit it's not a pleasant feeling for me at the moment."

Andriy, 38, now in Poland

"Some of this is about restoring some kind of balance. It's unfair that men in Ukraine have to live like this right now."

"There is a sense that we men who live outside the country have more privileges and liberties. But the situation is not black-and-white."

"There are also people still living in the country who pretend that there is no war right now, and people living outside who work every day to support Ukraine."

Savelii, 35, now in London 

"This hasn't caused me any inconvenience personally [his passport valid for another three years], although it's insulting because I haven't violated existing laws of Ukraine."

"But I don't exclude the possibility that services may be needed. What to do then, there's no plan."

Olexander, 53, now in Britain

A banner advertising contract military service is seen on display in central Kyiv in March. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

 

Ukraine had given orders to its embassies abroad that citizen services like passport renewals will be temporary suspended although they are regular consular services meant to service the needs of Ukrainian citizens living outside of Ukraine. This is a move motivated by a government desperate to shore up its faltering military campaign to stop Russian forces from their advance in Ukraine; a preliminary step involved with a new mobilization law to go into force May 18 that will require all men aged 18 to 60 to update personal information with a local draft office within 60 days.

Since Russia's invasion in February of 2022, martial law prohibits fighting-age men in Ukraine from leaving the country. Thousands of Ukrainians predating the Russian invasion already lived outside the country, others chose to leave in fear of conscription. The new rules just introduced apply to all of these citizens of Ukraine under pressure of the new rules. Ukrainians who speak in opposition to the new rules, withhold their full names in fear of possible repercussions.

The number of those living outside Ukraine are not known, but are assumed to be in the tens of thousands. Those who support the mobilization law feel that men who live outside Ukraine do not support their country sufficiently in its time of greatest need. Men living within Ukraine who provide their personal data to a draft office stand to receive documentation which they are expected to show in conducting official business in Ukraine; registering marriage, obtaining a driver's license, etc.

 

A local woman rides a bicycle on April 18, 2024, in front of a building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in the frontline town of Orikhiv, Ukraine. (Andriy Andriyenko / AP Photo)

 

To receive consular service, Ukrainians living abroad must provide their personal data without which they are not to be given the required documentation of their citizenship. The situation is creating a rift that deepens between men who have fought in t he front lines as opposed to those who have not, between families. the mobilization law, should it succeed, could provide hundreds of thousands of new soldiers for the war effort, desperately needed to halt the Russian advances.

According to a statement by Ukraine's ambassador to Warsaw, Vasyl Zvarych, Ukrainian authorities "estimate that there are tens of thousands of people of military age in Poland alone". The new measures have raised as many questions as answers, leaving many Ukrainian men struggling to fully comprehend what it might mean for them personally. Thousands of men who fled Ukraine to avoid the draft  now find themselves stuck wherever they ended up, forced to apply for asylum, left in legal limbo.

As for corroboration with Ukraine, by its European neighbours in Europe, authorities are divided over prospects of attempting to compel Ukrainian men to return home to fight. An adviser to Estonia's interior minister stated that Estonia has "no plan for the forced repatriation of Ukrainian citizens legally residing in Estonia who fled because of the war". Others appeared less categorical: "We definitely won't protect draft dodgers", Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna has stated.

A Ukrainian howitzer fires in the direction of Russian forces near Kupiansk, Ukraine, on April 21. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)