Ukrainians who do not want to serve in the army will still not come back to register for the draft because of the ban, but they can lose legal status abroad, said Oleksandr Pavlichenko, acting head of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.
“In some countries, Ukrainians will begin to lose their legal status as persons under protection. They will have to apply for refugee status,” Pavlichenko said. According to European estimates, some 600,000 to 850,000 Ukrainian men fled to the European Union after the Russian assault began in 2022.
The new consular services decision sparked outrage among them.
“I legally left Ukraine. And I am against the fact that the government sees us all as draft dodgers. I will renew my information with the conscription office when the time comes, until then, give me my passport,” a man named Maksym told the BBC.
However, Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom have been fighting for more than two years without any prospect of demobilization, supported the government.
“No one had been talking about justice for servicemen in our country for a long time. But here it is, at least some small percentage of it,” Ukrainian military medic Alina Mykhailova said in a post on Facebook. “No one sent us there either, but for some reason, we are there. If you don’t like it, give up your citizenship and go to hell.”