Fears are growing that Ukrainian men who moved abroad to Poland will be forced back to the country to participate in desperate fighting at the frontline. The Ukrainian authorities have decided that men of military service age will only be issued with documents that will allow them to return to Ukraine and not for any other purpose. The decision was taken suddenly on April 23 and implemented the next day.
In one video, indignant Ukrainians scream: “Give me the documents! Screw it. Go to Ukraine yourself and f**king serve!”
According to the new legislation signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, men between 25 and 60 who are currently living abroad have two months to register for military service, and if they fail to do so, they will not have the right to hold travel documents and may be fined.
The Ukrainian government’s position is that, as foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has put it on the X platform, “it is no longer prepared to tolerate people demanding services from it when those individuals are not prepared to help their country in its hour of need in the war with Russia.”
This is why no man between the age of 18 and 60 will be entitled to receive a passport to travel outside of Ukraine.
The decision on Wednesday led to Ukrainian consulates being besieged by people demanding their documents. Men have been told that “the system is not working,” but the very same computing system is able to generate documents for women and children.
Ukrainian organizations in Poland are concerned that this could lead to a panic among the Ukrainian community, leading to rash decisions with regard to their future. The Ukrainian authorities want to have information on how many men of military service age are abroad, but these men are afraid that if they return to Ukraine to get their papers, they will not be allowed to leave again.
According to the Politico portal, 650,000 men of military service age have left Ukraine since the start of the war. The Ukrainian ministry of defense has called on them to return.
