‘WE WILL CATCH YOU’
UKRAINIAN MEN ABROAD FEEL PRESSURE TO GO HOME AND FIGHT
KYIV • With Ukraine desperate for soldiers to reinforce its crumbling defences against Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian embassies have temporarily suspended consular services for fighting-age men, placing new pressure on them to go home to fight.
The suspension of citizen services, such as passport renewals, is intended as a preliminary step to a new mobilization law that will go into force on May 18. It will require all men ages 18 to 60 to update their personal information with a local draft office within 60 days.
Martial law, in effect since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, prohibits men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country. But many men who were afraid of being sent to the front have fled. Thousands of others were already living abroad. Now, all of them face pressure under the new rules, which could restrict their movements.
“We all felt like the ground was pulled out from under us,” said Oleksandr, a 42-yearold from Kyiv now living in Austria. “That Ukraine no longer wants to support us.” Like other men interviewed for this article, Oleksandr agreed to speak on condition that he be identified only by his first name because he feared being ostracized or facing other repercussions.
Supporters of the mobilization law say men living outside Ukraine — potentially numbering in the tens of thousands — are not sufficiently supporting their country in its time of greatest need.
Ukrainian officials insist that the mobilization law will add “fairness” to the draft, removing many exceptions and streamlining the conscription process. They also say the government urgently needs accurate information about those citizens who are eligible for military duty.
In Ukraine, men who provide their information to a draft office will receive documentation, which they then must show when conducting any official business in Ukraine, such as registering a marriage or obtaining a driver’s license. Those living abroad will need the same documentation to receive consular services.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Oleksandr, who has lived in Austria since before the invasion, said he felt persecuted, as if the Ukrainian government was hunting him. “It was done as a ‘go to hell’ move — ‘we will now catch you, to make you feel bad, punish you,’ ” he said.
“I am not afraid to die,” Oleksandr added. “My biggest fear is to be captured and experience torture.”
Other men targeted by the policy expressed similar anger. And the requirements of the mobilization law are casting new light on a deepening rift between those men who have gone to the front lines and those who have not, between families whose loved ones are at risk every day and those who are living safely, in some cases many thousands of miles away.
If successful, the mobilization law could provide hundreds of thousands of new soldiers for the war effort — troops desperately needed to halt Russia’s recent advances, Kyiv officials say.
Weeks after Ukraine’s parliament adopted the mobilization law, the measure continues to raise as many questions as answers.
The law presents separate problems for thousands who fled to avoid the draft, potentially leaving them stuck where they are, forced to apply for asylum or in legal limbo.
Some said they feel betrayed, while others said they fear that the Ukrainian government could resort to even more draconian measures to fill the country’s military ranks — possibly by forcing men living outside the country to return.
European officials appear divided over the prospect of trying to compel Ukrainian men to return home to fight.
Anneli Viks, an adviser to Estonia’s interior minister, said her country has “no plan for the forced repatriation of Ukrainian citizens legally residing in Estonia who fled because of the war,” local media reported.
But others were less categorical. “We definitely won’t protect draft dodgers,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said on Polish television.