Ukrainian men protest Zelensky’s new draft measure in Poland (VIDEO)
About 300 Ukrainians have blocked their country’s consular office in Warsaw, demanding passports they have been denied under Kiev’s new mobilization rules.
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 can no longer receive documents at consular offices outside Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said earlier this week. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has confirmed he ordered the measure, intended to force refugees of fighting age to return and be conscripted into the military.
On Wednesday evening, several hundred Ukrainians locked down the ‘Document’ Passport Service Center in Warsaw, located at the Blue City shopping center.
Earlier in the day, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Warsaw would be willing to “help” Kiev repatriate men of fighting age, an unspecified portion of some 950,000 Ukrainians granted temporary sanctuary in Poland.
“I think many Poles are outraged when they see young Ukrainian men in hotels and cafes, and they hear how much effort we have to make to help Ukraine,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told the TV outlet Polsat News.
About 4.3 million Ukrainians lived in EU countries as of January 2024, according to Eurostat estimates. Of that number, some 860,000 were men of military age.
The Ukrainian parliament voted on Wednesday to add 15,000 members to the state border guard. After the expansion, the service will have 75,000 members, including 67,000 guards under arms.
