Ukraine needs to recruit several hundred thousand soldiers this year in the hope of stopping Russia’s advance in the war that began in February 2022. The President, Volodymyr Zelensky has recently signed a new law on mobilization – which makes the entire procedure “more effective and transparent” – and at the same time announces a crackdown on adult males residing abroad.
Consular services will therefore be suspended until 18 May, a measure destined to affect the hundreds of thousands of citizens of military service age – 860 thousand adult males in EU countries alone, according to Eurostat, as of January this year – who reside in abroad.
The suspension will remain in force until May 18, when the mobilization law will come into effect: this one provides for the obligation for all men of military age to report to the draft offices to update their military documentsremotely or in person, within 60 days.
What changes for those who live abroad
Adult men abroad will need those documents to receive consular services, i.e. to obtain any assistance required, from renewal of identity documents to marriage certificates. The suspension in force until the implementation of the new law therefore prevents those abroad who might have decided to rush to use consular services in time.
Ukraine imposed martial law at the start of the war banning men between the ages of 18 and 60 from traveling abroad without special dispensation and initiating a rotating mobilization of civilian men into the armed forces. The decision to suspend consular services was accompanied by a tough stance by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba: “Protection of the rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens abroad has always been and remains a priority for the ministry. At the same time, given the circumstances of large-scale aggression by Russia, the main priority is to protect the our homeland from destruction”.
“This is how the situation is,” continues the minister. “A man of military age goes abroad, shows his state that he doesn’t care about his survival, and then comes and wants to receive services from this state. It doesn’t work that way. Our country is at war. Moreover, the obligation to update one’s documents at the conscription centers already existed before the approval of the new law on mobilization. If there are those who believe that while others fight far away on the front line risking their lives for this State, someone else remains abroad but uses their services, then that’s not how it works.”Staying abroad – he continues – does not relieve the citizen of his duties towards his homeland. That is why yesterday I ordered measures to restore a fair attitude towards men of military age in Ukraine and abroad.”
Kiev drones hit fuel depots in Russia
Fires have broken out at fuel depots in the Smolensky and Yartsevo districts of Russia’s Smolensk region. Tass writes this, quoting the head of the region Vasily Anokhin, who on Telegram specified that the fires are due to an attack by Ukrainian drones.
“Our region is once again under attack from Ukrainian UAVs. Russian air defense forces intervened to counter the attack, as a result of which civilian fuel facilities caught fire,” the governor said.
The head of the region clarified that employees of the Ministry for Emergency Situations are on site and called on citizens to remain calm and not to panic.
Russian missiles on Kharkiv, 6 injured
Six people were injured in the attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, hit by Russian missiles which also caused damage to three residential buildings, as many unoccupied buildings and a gas pipeline. Mayor Ihor Terekhov spoke of two S-300 missiles used in the attack. According to sources from the Russian military forces cited by Ria Novosti, a military barracks was hit.
Russia: Deputy Defense Minister will remain in prison until June 23
The Basmanny District Court of Moscow, at the request of the investigative authorities, decided “against the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Timur Vadimovich Ivanov a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of two months, until June 23, 2024”. This was announced by the court’s press office.
Ivanov is accused of receiving a bribe together with the previously arrested Sergei Borodin. The latter, we read in the note, “being on friendly terms with the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Ivanov, who oversaw the construction and major repairs of the facilities of the Ministry of Defense, entered into a criminal conspiracy with third parties , receiving a bribe on a particularly large scale in the form of providing real estate services during procurement and subcontracting work for the needs of the Ministry of Defense.”
WSJ: appeal rejected Gershkovich, the reporter in prison until June 30
The appeal lodged by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his detention has been rejected by a Moscow court. The decision – underlines the newspaper – means that the journalist, who has been awaiting trial for over a year, will remain behind bars until at least June 30th. Gershkovich, who appeared in court yesterday, is being called to answer for espionage charges strongly denied by him, the Wall Street Journal and the US government. The State Department in Washington defined him as ‘wrongly detained’, effectively committing the government to take action to release him.
The judge addressed the 32-year-old reporter at the end of a closed-door hearing at the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction, and confirmed the decision made earlier by another legal body. “Evan Gershkovich, do you understand the decision made by the court, the procedure and deadlines for appealing?” the judge asked. “Everything is clear,” Gershkovich replied. The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation arrested the journalist in March last year. “It remains scandalous that Evan was wrongfully detained by the Russian government for more than a year,” the Journal said in a statement after the sentencing. “Evan’s freedom is long overdue, and we urge the administration to do everything possible to ensure his release.”
