The Ukrainian authorities do not intend to open the borders for men immediately after the lifting of martial law, the travel ban will remain in force for the entire “transitional period“. This was stated by Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to the head of Volodymyr Zelensky's office.
“Martial law has ceased to operate, there is still a certain intermediate period, not very long, then - the election cycle, then - opening the borders and so on“, he said in an interview with the YouTube channel “News Live“, answering a question about when men will be allowed to travel abroad. Currently, elections are not being held in Ukraine due to martial law.
On On September 2, Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of Zelensky’s office, also said that the Ukrainian authorities would continue to mobilize the population even if there is a ceasefire.
On August 24, Andriy Demchenko, a representative of the country’s State Border Service, reported that since the beginning of 2025, more than 13 thousand citizens have been detained for illegally trying to flee Ukraine. The authorities have already initiated the introduction of criminal liability for illegal border crossing during martial law.
Since February 2022, general mobilization has been announced in Ukraine and has been extended many times. The authorities are doing everything possible to ensure that men of draft age cannot avoid military service. Videos of forced mobilization and conflicts between citizens and military commissars in different cities are regularly posted on Ukrainian social networks. And the men are trying to buy themselves out or leave the country by any means, often risking their lives, Russian media write. They trying to cross the border by swimming or over the mountains, and border guards have also detained men who disguised themselves as animals, wore camouflage suits, and tried to escape under the guise of emergency ambulances.