President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that men of mobilisation age should be in Ukraine and help it, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"If they are of conscription age, they should help Ukraine and they should be in Ukraine. And I'm not talking about who should be at the front and who should not be at the front," he told reporters before a meeting with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in Tallinn on Thursday.
"And if you are in Ukraine and you are not at the front, you are working. Wherever you work, we respect every person. And if you work and pay taxes, you are also protecting the state. And this is very important. But if you are abroad and you are of conscription age and you are not at the front, and you do not pay taxes, and you have left illegally, then there are questions," Zelenskyy said when asked whether Estonia should send men of conscription age to Ukraine.
"If there is no money for the military, there will be no military. There will be no one to defend Ukraine," the president said.
In December, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said that Ukraine intends to call up Ukrainian men living abroad for military service from the reserve starting next year. Umerov noted that this was an invitation to report to recruitment centres, but at the same time made it clear that those who evade would face sanctions.
Meanwhile, about 9,000 criminal proceedings have been opened in Ukraine over mobilisation evasion. About a third of them has already been sent to court.