A decision ” just “. This is how the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, justified the order he gave on Tuesday, April 23, to temporarily suspend all consular activities concerning Ukrainians of age to serve in the army. The country, which is seriously lacking soldiers to go into combat, will no longer issue passports to men aged 18 to 60 exiled abroad, with some exceptions. Only the “identity cards to enter Ukraine” are maintained. “This decision is purely political,” fumes Vlodymyr Dovhan, an IT specialist met in front of the Ukrainian consulate in Warsaw.
Arriving in Poland with his wife and daughter on February 23, 2022, on the eve of the Russian invasion, this Ukrainian believes that “ vsThis is not what will bring back Ukrainians living in Poland. My daughter already speaks Polish and feels very good here. As for me, I[y] started my own business. »
The announced restrictions, the terms of which are still unclear, aim to prevent Ukrainians from “evading the obligation to resolve the issue of military registration”, according to kyiv. A way of putting pressure on the tens of thousands of men who fled the country after the Russian attack in order to encourage them to return and participate in the war effort.
“In the context of Russia’s large-scale aggression, the top priority is to protect our homeland from destructionjustified Dmytro Kuleba. This is what it looks like today: a man of fighting age has gone abroad, shown his state that he doesn’t care about his survival, and then he comes and wants to receive services from that state. It doesn’t work like that. Our country is at war (…) Living abroad does not exempt a citizen from his duties towards the homeland. »
The ban is supposed to continue until the clarification of the provisions of the law on strengthening mobilization, which will come into force on Saturday, May 18. This aims to toughen punishments for recalcitrants, and lowers the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years. The suspension of consular services does not apply to people already authorized to cross the border under certain exceptions, such as disability or accompanying orphans.
“I have nowhere to go back”
This measure arouses a wave of concern and anger. In Poland, hundreds of Ukrainians immediately crowded in front of the consulate. A technical incident that occurred the same day added to the panic. “The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry clarified that consular services will again be available to those who have updated their military information, underlines World Oksana Pestrykova, coordinator of the support center of The Ukrainian House in Warsaw, an NGO helping Ukrainians in the diaspora. But Ukrainians in Poland fear that once this information is transmitted, they will receive documents forcing them to join the army. »
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