Ukrainian men caught avoiding the call-up to fight will face increased fines under new measures—which will also allow authorities to detain ‘draft dodgers’ for up to three days—supported by Parliament on Thursday.
The bill, which has yet to be signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky but is backed by most lawmakers, comes amid fears about Russia gaining momentum on the battlefield and of soldier shortages in the Ukrainian army.
Zelensky said in February that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia launched its invasion, or the ‘special military operation’ in Kremlin-speak, two years ago—the first figure he has given since the war started. The true number is undoubtedly much higher.
Men aged 25 and 26 were made eligible for enforced enlistment for the first time in April, as Kyiv officials worked to tackle shortages. Ukrainian men living abroad are now also facing pressure to return home to fight.
Consular services have been withdrawn for military-aged men living abroad, meaning they will no longer be able to renew their passports or receive other government documents. One such man, Igor Kovalenko, told NPR that the measure was “useless,” adding:
Let’s say you have a couple [of] thousand people who escaped illegally from Ukraine. Even if you take their documents, they won’t go back.
Reports late last year suggested that around 20,000 Ukrainian men had fled the country to escape the fighting. But Ukrainian officials believe there are tens of thousands living in Poland alone.
Some Ukrainians living outside the country spoke to The Washington Post earlier this month about the pressures they are now facing to return, on condition of near-anonymity to avoid identification and prevent them “being ostracised or facing other repercussions.” ‘Oleksandr,’ who has lived in Austria since before Russia’s invasion, said he felt as though the measures had been “done as a ‘Go to hell’ move—‘We will now catch you, to make you feel bad, punish you.’”
European leaders are divided on measures to return Ukrainian men to their home country. Anneli Viks, who advises Estonia’s interior minister, said that her country has “no plan for the forced repatriation of Ukrainian citizens legally residing in Estonia who fled because of the war.” But Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna warned that “we definitely won’t protect draft dodgers.”
Ukraine itself has insisted there will be no “forced return of Ukrainian citizens of any gender or age to the country that is at war,” while adding that “there are no pleasant solutions in matters of war, and let’s not forget that the war continues and we must win it.”
