Ukrainian men aged 25 to 60 living abroad will receive summonses to join the army, Kyiv Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

Ukraine’s defense minister said it was an “invitation” but suggested there would be sanctions against those who did not comply, the BBC and News.ro reported.

However, the spokesman later denied that the mobilization of citizens from abroad would be considered.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Tuesday that 450,000-500,000 new soldiers are needed, but that achieving that number is a “sensitive issue.”

All this is happening in conditions where Ukraine’s recent counteroffensive seems to have stalled. Kyiv also failed to get further help from its partners, American Republicans blocked a military package worth 61 billion dollars, and in Europe, Hungary opposed the EU financial agreement worth 50 billion dollars, billions of euros.

After analyzing figures provided in November by the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat, BBC Ukraine found that around 768,000 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 64 have left the country – to the EU alone – since the start of the large-scale invasion of Russia. . The statistics do not include citizens living outside the EU or those living abroad until February 2022.

In an interview with Die Welt, Bild, and Politico, Rustem Umerov called the conscription campaign “not a punishment,” but an “honor.”

“We are still discussing what should happen if they don’t come voluntarily,” he said.

But a ministry spokesman later appeared to deny any kind of coercion. “There is no discussion of a call from abroad on the agenda,” said Hilarion Pavlyuk, quoted by the Ukrainian press. “If citizens of Ukraine want to enlist (in the army), they come (voluntarily) to Ukraine to enlist,” he said.

In addition, there are no recruitment centers outside of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian authorities have no means of forcing anyone to report.

The Minister of Defense noted that it is important to be fair in informing the mobilized about how they will be trained and equipped, when and where they will serve and when they will be released from military service.

At his final press conference on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers are now on the front lines. He also admitted that there are problems with troop rotation and permits. Currently, conscripts and volunteers are required to serve until the end of the war and are only entitled to 10 days of vacation per year.

For comparison, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said this week that 617,000 Russian troops are participating in the so-called “special forces operation” in Ukraine.

• Read also: “The enemy prevails.” Ukraine’s most formidable general says that the situation at the front is “difficult”.

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