Men aged 18 to 22 will be allowed to cross the border freely in revised travel rules, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
“Today, the government updated the procedure for crossing the state border,” Svyrydenko wrote on Telegram.
“Men aged 18 to 22 will be able to cross the border without hindrance during martial law. This applies to all citizens of the relevant age,” she added.
“This decision also applies to citizens who, for various reasons, are currently abroad,” she continued. “We want Ukrainians to maintain their ties with Ukraine as much as possible.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the revision on Telegram after a meeting with Svyrydenko, saying “all the details have been agreed with military command.”
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 were generally prohibited from traveling abroad unless in exceptional circumstances during martial law, even though only those aged 25 and above could be drafted.
An explanatory note to the draft law posted on Aug. 25 to the parliament’s website read: “To prevent abuse of the right to leave Ukraine in order to avoid fulfilling the constitutional duty of Ukrainian citizens… it is considered expedient to maintain the existing restriction on leaving Ukraine for male citizens who turn 25 in the current or next years.”
According to the note, the current ban on free movement across the border “creates serious obstacles for young people to return to Ukraine, and creates difficulties for maintaining ties with relatives and the Motherland.”
On Aug. 12, Zelensky said that authorities were considering simplifying border crossing for men under the age of 22, saying it would “help many young Ukrainians maintain ties with Ukraine and realize their potential, primarily in Ukraine, in education.”
This was amid rising concern about the number of underage boys leaving the country to sidestep the restrictions before they started to apply, as families reported fearing their sons would become trapped.
Of the 4.3 million Ukrainians living in the European Union, about 860,000 are adult men, according to the Eurostat database.
In response to the exodus of military-age men (18-60), Ukraine previously restricted consular services for draft-eligible citizens living abroad
In January 2024, Zelensky said in a plea to those who had fled abroad: “Even if you are in Ukraine and you are not on the front line, but you are working and paying taxes, you are also contributing, you are defending the country, and that is needed.”
Amid rising debate about whether the countries hosting Ukrainian fighting-age men should extradite them, Zelensky said, “if you’re abroad and of mobilization age, but you’re not paying taxes in Ukraine and you’ve left the country illegally, then we have questions… We all have to think about whether we are helping Ukraine or not.”