Kiev had been barring all men aged between 18 and 60 from travelling abroad as part of its martial law and mobilization campaign
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has ordered the authorities to allow men aged up to 22 to leave the country. The move is a stark change to Kiev’s martial law policies, which barred all male Ukrainians aged between 18 and 60 from travelling abroad.
The Ukrainian leader announced the change in a post on Telegram on Tuesday, arguing that it would be a “positive” development that would allow “many young Ukrainians to maintain ties” with their homeland and potentially return to Ukraine for study.
“I instructed the government as well as the military to work on simplifying the border crossing [procedures] for young Ukrainians,” Zelensky said in a statement, adding that those aged 22 or younger should not face any restrictions.
Kiev introduced the travel ban soon after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. At the time, it imposed the martial law and launched a massive mobilization campaign. The Ukrainian authorities still struggled with widespread draft evasion throughout the conflict with Russia.
Last year, Kiev lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 while tightening mobilization rules. The forced conscription campaign has triggered repeated violent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers that were often recorded on videos and published on the internet.
Potential recruits were reported hiding from military officers or using various tactics, including bribery, forged documents to escape mobilization. Many men also tried to cross the border and flee abroad illegally, including through traversing rough terrain, often to their doom.
In March 2024, the Ukrainian border guard service reported that more than two dozen men had drowned while swimming across the Tisza River on the country’s border with Romania, in an effort to flee the country.
Ukrainian border patrols have also stopped thousands of people trying to flee abroad, going as far as to shoot some of them. Last year, the border guards published photos of officers beating and humiliating dozens of men after they were caught while attempting to cross the border.
