Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that protecting the rights and interests of Ukrainian citizens abroad has always been and remains a priority for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, in the face of full-scale Russian aggression, the main priority is to protect the homeland from destruction.
He wrote about this on the social network X.
"What it looks like now: a man of military age went abroad, showed his country that he does not care about its survival, and then comes back and wants to receive services from this country. It doesn't work that way. We are at war in our country," Kuleba wrote.
In addition, the minister noted, the obligation to update their documents to the Territorial Centre for Recruitment and Social Support existed even before the new law on mobilisation was adopted.
"If these people believe that someone is fighting far away at the front and giving their lives for this state, while someone will be sitting abroad but will receive services from this state, then this is not how it works," Kuleba said. The Foreign Minister stressed that being abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the homeland.
"That is why yesterday I instructed to take measures to restore fair treatment of men of mobilisation age in Ukraine and abroad. It will be fair," the minister wrote.
He also noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would soon provide clarification on the procedure for obtaining consular services within the law for men of mobilisation age at foreign diplomatic missions as the law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Certain Issues of Military Service, Mobilisation and Military Registration" comes into force and enters into force.