Ukraine suspends consular services for men of military age in effort to promote enlistment

Ukraine stopped helping military-aged men at their embassies until May 18. They are upset with Ukrainians living outside the country who want help but are not helping Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Many Ukrainian men of military age are living in other countries and Ukraine doesn’t have enough soldiers to fight against a bigger and better-equipped enemy, since Russia invaded almost 26 months ago.

Last week, Ukraine made a new law to improve how it gets civilian men to join the army. This should help them defend against Russian troops.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that it doesn’t look good when a man of conscription age goes abroad and shows that he doesn’t care about his country’s survival, but then comes back and wants services from the state.

“It doesn’t work like that. ” Our country is fighting in a war. Living in another country doesn’t mean a person doesn’t have to do things for their own country.

His angry voice showed that people in Kyiv are getting more and more frustrated with Ukrainian men living outside the country who are not helping in the war.

Many people have avoided going to war by leaving the country.

Around 43 million people from Ukraine were living in European Union countries in January 2024. Out of these, approximately 860,000 are adult men, according to the Eurostat database.

In simple words, the suspension means that young men living in other countries won’t be able to update or get new passports or other important papers like marriage certificates.

Law that allows the government to mobilize resources and personnel for national defense or emergencies.

The suspension will stay in place until May 18 when the mobilization law and its rules start. The foreign ministry said this.

According to the mobilization law, all men of military age must go to draft offices either in person or online within the next 60 days to update their information. Young men who are of the right age to join the military in another country will need to have those documents to get help from their country’s embassy.

The suspension means people who want to get urgent help from the consulate before the law starts won’t be able to do so.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst from Kyiv, said it seemed like the government was trying to make men follow the new law and give their information to the military.

He said it probably won’t work but eventually many men will have to decide if they want to confirm their Ukrainian citizenship.

Ukraine started a big war and put some new rules in place. They said that men between 18 and 60 years old can’t go to other countries without permission. They also started getting more men ready to join the army.

Russian soldiers are moving forward in eastern Ukraine because the Ukrainian soldiers are tired and running out of supplies. Some of them have been fighting for a long time.

A man from Ukraine who lives in Warsaw and doesn’t want his name to be known, told Reuters on the phone that he thinks stopping the support will make people who are loyal to Kyiv feel left out.

Another Ukrainian person named Anatoly Nezgoduk, who is 21 years old and studying in Canada, said: “I know there is a war in our country, so I can’t say that this move is strange, illegal or wrong. ”

“In a way, this makes me less involved with Ukraine’s official presence in other countries. “