Because they do not want to be on the front lines for their country, Ukrainian men no longer receive services in their consulates abroad.

View of the Consulate General of Ukraine on the outer Alster of Hamburg Photo: Marcus Brandt/dpa

Dusseldorf taz | About two dozen people were waiting patiently on Friday morning in front of the Ukrainian consulate general in Düsseldorf at Luisenstraße 9. Not all of them had an appointment. Some arrived spontaneously, without entering the online list, after learning that Ukraine will no longer provide consular services to men between 18 and 60 years old who are not registered with military authorities. Men are a minority among those who wait. What attracts attention are two men on crutches and another young man who speaks to his companion in fluent German with a slight Düsseldorf accent.

The consulate opens its doors promptly at 8:45 am. The young man is one of the first to arrive. He also needs a new passport.

“I am now 27 years old and have been living in Germany for 25 years. And now I found out that I can no longer get a passport at the Düsseldorf consulate,” he addresses the Ukrainian consular officer. But he only answers her in Ukrainian. But the young man does not understand Ukrainian. He also speaks very bad Russian. Until now, his mother had always accompanied him as an interpreter. The consular officer asks you to return later with an interpreter. “I don't know what my employer will say if he finds out that I don't have a valid passport,” he explains desperately to another visitor. He also often travels abroad for business purposes. And that only works with a valid passport.

The two men with the cane are no better. They hoped they would serve them because they were obviously unfit for military service. But the consular official also rejects it. “Our order is: 'There will be no consular services for men between 18 and 60 years old.' And we stick to it.” However, further instructions from kyiv are expected before May 18. Please leave your information there. And as soon as they have more detailed information they will call them, the officer consoles them.

Ukrainian men subject to military service can no longer use consular services abroad as of Tuesday. This is reported by the Ukrainian weekly. Dzerkalo Tyzhnyawhich simultaneously published the corresponding decree signed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sibiga.

“A man of military age who went abroad showed his state that he does not care about its survival. And now he wants to receive benefits from this state. That won't do. “We are at war,” explains Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, explaining the decision. “These people probably believe that it is possible that some people are giving their lives far away at the front, while others are sitting abroad and then also want to receive benefits from this State. “It doesn't work like that,” Kuleba says.

Currently about 200,000 Ukrainian men between 18 and 64 years old live in Germany. This figure, published in April 2024, is based on data from July 2023.

In Ukraine, the government's decision based on the recently passed law on mobilization signed by the president, which imposes restrictions on men who do not report to military authorities in Ukraine and which will come into force on May 18, is controversial.

Oleksandr Pavlitschenko, from the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights, criticizes the new practice of consulates in a television interview with the TSN channel. You cannot trust a law that has not yet come into force. The services of the consulate are not limited only to the issuance of passports. Consulates also have other tasks, such as notarizing marriages, births and deaths.

Consulates help their citizens if they have been in accidents and sometimes provide legal assistance to their citizens if they have run afoul of the host country's laws. And what about the legal capacity of Ukrainian citizens who do not have a valid identity document and want to buy a car, for example? Pavlichenko wants to know, who believes that Ukraine's decision to close its borders to men capable of military service is wrong.

Law No. 10449 on mobilization, approved by the Verkhovna Rada on April 11, contains a provision according to which men between 18 and 60 years old who are abroad can only go to consulates if they have previously presented themselves to the military authorities in Ukraine.

It can be assumed that the consulates will deviate from their position of not granting consular services to men of military age as soon as more detailed implementing rules are received from kyiv in Düsseldorf and other consulates in Ukraine.

And then the 27-year-old man, who has the right of residence in Germany, and the two men with a crutch will surely also be cared for at the Consulate General in Düsseldorf.

Meanwhile, German Interior Ministry press spokesman Maximilian Kall stated that the new change in practice by Ukrainian consulates will not affect the protection status of refugees from Ukraine, “regardless of whether they are women or men.”

And the portal https://radiotrek.rv.ua advises Ukrainian citizens living in Germany to apply for a “travel permit for foreigners.” With this you can easily travel to Schengen countries.