Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz (Photo: Reuters).
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on April 24 that the country is ready to help Ukraine bring male citizens of military age back to the country to support Kiev in the more than 2-year war with Russia. .
Mr. Kosiniak-Kamysz told the television station Polsat News that Poland had previously offered to assist Ukraine in repatriating people of military service age.
“I think many Poles are indignant when they see young Ukrainians in hotels and cafes, while we (Poland) have to work very hard to help Ukraine,” he said.
The Eurostat database estimates that about 4.3 million Ukrainians were living in European Union countries as of January, of whom about 860,000 were adult men. Poland has granted temporary protection status to 950,000 Ukrainians, the second largest number after Germany.
“Any support is possible,” Mr. Kosiniak-Kamysz said about how Poland would react if Kiev asked for help repatriating men with expired passports.
In addition, the Ukrainian government on the same day announced new regulations, according to which passports for men of military age can only be issued within the country instead of at foreign diplomatic missions.
Therefore, men aged 18 to 59 living abroad will not be able to renew an expired passport or apply for a new one.
Previously, Ukraine announced on April 23 that it would stop consular services for men of military age who are abroad. The only exception to the rule is that Ukraine will still handle the necessary services for these people to return to their country.
This move may cause Ukrainian men living abroad to return home to carry out administrative procedures that Kiev’s diplomatic agency previously assisted in carrying out.
Reuters According to experts, this is considered Ukraine’s effort to promote military recruitment efforts when the war of attrition with Russia shows no signs of cooling down.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement that he had ordered measures to restore what he described as fair treatment of military-age men.
“A man of military age went abroad, showed that he did not care about Ukraine’s survival, then came to (diplomatic establishments) and wanted to receive support from the country This cannot be like that. Ukraine is in wartime,” he said.
Ukraine imposed martial law at the start of the full-scale war, banned men between 18 and 60 from traveling abroad without special exemptions, and began rotating men into the armed forces.
In recent times, Ukraine has recorded many cases of military draft evasion. Ukraine also admitted that war fatigue makes recruiting more difficult.
