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Up to 700,000 young people left Ukraine in past eight months — lawmaker

General mobilization was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Around 700,000 young people aged from 18 to 23 have left Ukraine in the past eight months, Dmitry Razumkov, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, or national parliament, said.

"Do you know how many young people aged from 18 to 23 have fled since August 2025? Some 400,000 young men. This is because of your government’s reforms. Isn’t it time for the government to do something so that the youth can work for our country rather than for Poland, Italy, Germany and other countries?" he said in a video address posted on his Telegram channel.

According to Razumkov, the overall number of those who have left the country could be much higher. "And how many girls have left with them? Well, some 600,000-700,000 have left the country, and they won't come back," he added.

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. Videos of forcible mobilization and clashes with draft officers are regularly surfacing on Ukrainian social networks. Amid the understaffing problems in the Ukrainian army, territorial recruitment officers organize man-hunting raids in public places, seizing draft-age men by force. Such incidents often result in human deaths.