Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba announced changes that would require Ukrainian men living abroad to comply with conscription requirements in order to receive consulate services, stating on X:
Soon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide further clarifications on the procedure for obtaining consular services within the legal framework for men of conscription age in foreign diplomatic missions as we approach the entry into force of the law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Certain Issues of Military Service, Mobilization and Military Registration”, as well as after it comes into force.
Kuleba stated that men living outside Ukraine were obligated to update their conscription documents, and that living abroad did not relieve them of their duty:
Besides, the obligation to update one’s documents with the conscription centers existed even before the new law on mobilization was passed. If anyone believes that while someone is fighting far away at the frontline and risking his or her life for this state, someone else is staying abroad but receiving services from this state, then this is not how it works.
Staying abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the Homeland. That is why yesterday I ordered measures to restore fair attitudes toward men of conscription age in Ukraine and abroad. This will be fair.
The effort to increase the number of conscripts in Ukraine comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed only 31,000 Ukrainan soldiers have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion. Other, more credible, estimates put the number of Ukrainian dead at closer to 500,000. Kuleba said the estimated 768,000 men aged 18-64 living abroad appear to not care about the survival of Ukraine, stating:
Protecting the rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens abroad has always been and remains a priority for the MFA. At the same time, under the circumstances of Russia’s full-scale aggression, the main priority is to protect our Homeland from destruction.
How it looks like now: a man of conscription age went abroad, showed his state that he does not care about its survival, and then comes and wants to receive services from this state. It does not work this way. Our country is at war.
