Ukraine Suspends Consular Services for Men Living Abroad

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced Tuesday, April 23 that there will be limits on consular services for Ukrainian men of conscription age – those between ages 18-60 – who are living abroad.

Living abroad does not relieve a Ukrainian citizen from duties to his or her homeland, Kuleba said.

“How it looks 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 the social network X (formerly known as Twitter).

“If anyone believes that while someone is fighting far away at the front line 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,” Kuleba wrote.

Kuleba’s “X” post comes following a letter from the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andriy Sibiga – also announcing that the suspension of services would start Tuesday.

A new law on mobilization, signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 16, mandates that without updated military registration documents, Ukrainians liable for military service aren’t able to receive most consulate services, like getting passports.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will soon release detailed explanations about the new procedures, Kuleba’s post says.

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The measures will “restore fair attitudes” toward conscription-age men – those between age 18-60 – in Ukraine and abroad, Kuleba wrote.

This suspension of services will be in effect at least until the Ministry of Foreign Affairs receives clarifications on the provisions of a new mobilization law, which is set to come into force in May.