Ukraine’s male citizens aged between 25 and 60 living abroad will be called up for military service, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov announced, according to the BBC.
While he called it an “invitation,” he also suggested that sanctions would be imposed against anyone who did not comply.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday that 450,000-500,000 new soldiers were needed, while noting that achieving this was a “sensitive issue.”
The draft comes amid US Republicans blocking a $61bn (€55bn) military package and Hungary halting a $55bn (€50bn) EU financial deal.
While analysing data from the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat in November, the BBC Ukrainian service found that some 768,000 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 64 had fled to the EU since the outbreak of the military conflict. The figure did not include citizens living outside the EU or those living anywhere abroad before February 2022.
Umerov called the recruitment campaign “not a punishment” but an “honour.”
We are still discussing what should happen if they don’t come voluntarily.
However, the ministry’s spokesman Illarion Pavlyuk later denied any coercion.
“There is no discussion on the agenda of a call-up from abroad. If citizens of Ukraine want to join [the army], they come to Ukraine to join.”
The defence minister stated that it was important to be honest when informing the mobilised of how they would be trained and equipped, when and where they would serve and when they would be demobilised.
On Tuesday, Zelensky suggested that there were about 500,000 Ukrainian troops currently on the frontline. He also acknowledged problems with rotation and holidays. Currently, conscripts and volunteers are obliged to serve until the end of the war and are only allowed 10 days leave per year.
