Ukraine has stripped military-age men abroad of access to consular support except for help in organising their return home in an effort to boost conscription.
Hundreds of thousands of military-age Ukrainian men are living abroad and the country faces an acute shortage of troops against a larger, better-equipped enemy nearly 26 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister, said in a statement that he had ordered measures to be taken to restore what he described as fair treatment for men of mobilisation age.
“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,” he said on X.
“It does not work this way. Our country is at war.”
Mr Kuleba said the foreign ministry would clarify the procedure for military-age men to obtain consular services soon.
“Staying abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the homeland,” Mr Kuleba said.