Kiev issues restrictions on passports for men of military age – Euractiv

The Ukrainian government has further tightened regulations to tackle troop shortages and approved rules temporarily banning military-age men from applying for passports abroad.

The provisions, and a subsequent clarification from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, were announced on Wednesday (April 24), a day after Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba suspended consular services for men aged 18 to 60 until May 18. He criticized those abroad for not serving in the war against Russia, now in its 26th month.

The Foreign Ministry said applicants seeking a special certificate declaring their intention to return to Ukraine can get help at embassies and consulates.

Regular services would resume on May 18, and applications received after April 23 would then be processed.

That’s when a new mobilization law will come into effect that aims to increase troop numbers through incentives for volunteers and penalties for draft dodgers.

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian military-age men live abroad, including an estimated 860,000 in the European Union, and the country faces a troop shortage in the campaign against the better-equipped and larger Russian army.

The Foreign Ministry said private agencies would no longer be able to process passport applications, only government missions.

It said the new restrictions do not apply to nationals now allowed to cross state borders while martial law is in effect, including people with disabilities.

Commenting on the suspension of consular services on Tuesday, Kuleba said it was incongruous for conscripted men to live abroad and still want to receive state services.

“A stay abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the home country,” he wrote on X.

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