"No I can leave my wife and three children and go to war." Ukraine restricts consular services for Ukrainian men of legal age abroad. But some frankly state that they have no intention of returning.
"It's good that I got a passport last year in Cologne and I no longer have to go to the consulate,", Oleg from Kiev, who now lives in Germany with his wife and three children, told DV. This is how he commented on the statement of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about the suspension of consular services for Ukrainian citizens of legal age who are abroad.
Kiev wants to limit the right to consular services in foreign countries for these Ukrainians. "Staying abroad does not exempt a citizen from his obligations to his homeland. That is why I gave instructions to take measures to restore the fair treatment of men of mobilization age in Ukraine and abroad," Kuleba wrote on the X network on April 23.
What is changing for Ukrainians abroad
On the same day, the issuance of documents abroad was suspended. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry explained that the temporary measure is related to the recently adopted law on mobilization and military registration, which will enter into force on May 18. An exception is made only for applications for the issuance of identity cards for return to Ukraine.
According to the new law, all male Ukrainian citizens abroad are required to register for military service. Exactly how they should do it outside the country and what documents they need to present is not very clear, lawyer Anna Ishchenko commented for DV. The lawyer specifies that the law applies to all male Ukrainian citizens without exception - both those who left the country after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and those who have lived abroad since birth.
Up to 30 days after the adoption of the government decree, all men with a Ukrainian passport must register for military service. The corresponding procedure for this will be described in the document in question, adds Ishchenko. Anyone who has registered with the military will have 60 days starting May 18, when the law goes into effect, to provide authorities with a current address, phone number, email address and other personal information.< /p>
In addition to being deprived of consular services, violators will be fined from 510 to 850 Ukrainian hryvnias, and for repeated violations - up to 1,700 hryvnias. According to lawyer Ishchenko, a bill has already been submitted to the Ukrainian parliament - the Verkhovna Rada - by which the amount of the fine will be raised to 22,500 hryvnias if martial law is declared in the country. "Failure to pay the fine within 10 days may lead to the initiation of enforcement proceedings and the entry of the person in the register of debtors, which leads to a number of other restrictions on rights, in particular on the disposal of property and the right to carry out entrepreneurial activity .
Lawyers criticize the measures
According to the lawyer, the Ukrainian authorities will face numerous lawsuits because of the disproportionate severity of these punitive measures, affecting all Ukrainian men abroad without exception. "In such cases, the courts must determine whether the authorities acted in good faith and in accordance with the principle of equality of citizens before the law. Although Ukraine is at war, the actions of the authorities do not comply with the principle of proportionality," says Anna Ishchenko. According to her, the goals pursued by the measure do not correspond to the consequences for citizens.
Executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights Oleksandr Pavlichenko also considers this a discriminatory approach. He told DV that after being denied consular services, people can start looking for another citizenship - even as refugees or through other procedures. The human rights defender also does not rule out the possibility of filing multiple lawsuits against the new norms, and in this particular case the plaintiffs will be able to refer in particular to the European Convention on Human Rights.
The lawyers with whom DV spoke on the subject doubt that the refusal of consular services will stop those men who flee Ukraine in order not to fight at the front.
The men who don't want to come back
Oleg, a resident of Kyiv, father of three, who left Ukraine legally, will not register for military service. He fears that he may have to fight, even though under current regulations he is exempt from duty as a father of many children. "I can't leave my wife alone with three children and go to war," he says.
Another resident of Kyiv, Bohdan, who also did not want to give his last name, is sure that the new measures will not affect the mobilization in any way. He left Ukraine illegally through Moldova and was granted temporary protection status in Germany. Bohdan by no means plans to return to Ukraine - he feels good in Germany, where he is learning the language and where he lives with the feeling that they "take care of you", he says. The Ukrainian is sure that the sanctions against those who will not register with the military will not change their decision.
Like Oleg, Bogdan is also happy that he recently managed to get a new passport. "I hope that in 2032, when I will have to replace it with a new one, I will have another citizenship, maybe German,", says the Ukrainian.
Data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany indicate that among the new arrivals from Ukraine there are approximately equal numbers of men and women aged 18 to 60. Two years ago, women made up two-thirds of Ukrainians fleeing war. The second largest category among Ukrainian refugees are children.
And some more statistics: among Ukrainian citizens returning from Germany to their homeland, 39% are women of working age and 23% are men of retirement age.