Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced Tuesday that Ukraine would be cutting off consular services for military-age men living abroad as a way to pressure them to return home and fight.
“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,” Kuleba wrote on X. “It does not work this way. Our country is at war.”
Ukraine’s new mobilization law requires all Ukrainian men ages 18 to 60 to update their personal information with the military registration office. If Ukrainians living abroad do not comply, they must be cut off from consular services.
“The obligation to update one’s documents with the conscription centers existed even before the new law on mobilization was passed,” Kuleba said. He added that soon, the Foreign Ministry “will provide further clarifications on the procedure for obtaining consular services within the legal framework for men of conscription age in foreign diplomatic missions.”
According to Reuters, roughly 860,000 adult Ukrainian men live in Europe. Some were able to leave Ukraine despite martial law prohibiting men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country. Others lived outside of Ukraine before Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine’s manpower shortage is one of the most significant problems the country faces in its war against Russia. Some Ukrainian officials have said that the US and NATO could give Ukraine all the weapons it wants, but there won’t be enough people to use them. On the other hand, Russia’s military is now 15% bigger than it was in February 2022.
Kuleba’s announcement came after the US House of Representatives passed $61 billion in new spending on Ukraine, which will ensure the proxy war continues, but will not help Kyiv’s chances of victory.
