MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. Ukrainians living abroad will have to return to Ukraine to get registered with a military recruitment office, since this cannot be done online, according to a Ukrainian government resolution that was made public ahead of the enforcement of a new mobilization law.
Thus, Ukrainian men staying abroad are to be registered for military service on the same grounds as those living in the country. Before the new law took effect, those living outside Ukraine for more than three months could be re-registered. Now, they must return to Ukraine to get registered again to obtain an electronic military service card they will need to receive consular services in Ukraine’s overseas missions.
General mobilization was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since, with the authorities doing everything possible so that draft-age men cannot evade military service. Draft orders are being handed out to men at government offices, in the street, on buses and trains and in other public places. According to the Ukrainian media, many men now choose not to leave their homes for months or flee the country, legally or illegally, out of fear of being forcibly dragooned into the army and sent to the combat zone.
Amid the recruitment problems, Ukraine’s authorities are toughening mobilization rules. A relevant law that came into force on May 18 is expected to help draft hundreds of thousands of fresh soldiers.