OTTAWA – The future was just starting to look bright for Mykyta Zakharchenko.
The 18-year-old’s youth in Ukraine was overshadowed by two major conflicts with Russia before escaping to Canada in 2022.
With harrowing experiences of war behind him, he recently graduated from high school, competes internationally as a rower and is determined to study finance in a few years.
But a recent decision to restrict consular services for Ukrainian men of fighting age has made him less confident about his next steps and worried he may be forced to return to war.
Men eligible for military service in Ukraine will lose access to administrative services abroad, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced in a social media post on Tuesday.
It is part of an attempt to strengthen Ukrainian forces, which need more weapons and soldiers to continue defending themselves against the Russian invasion.
Zakharchenko’s family was first forced to flee the violent conflict between Ukraine and Russia more than a decade ago, when they lived in Alchevsk, in the country’s far east.
To flee fighting in the east between Ukrainian and pro-Russian fighters, they moved west to Cherkasy, a city southeast of the capital, kyiv.
When Russia staged a full-scale invasion of the country two years ago, they fled again.
At that time, Zakharchenko was only 16 years old. He queued for two days with his mother, grandmother and his siblings to escape on foot across the Polish border.
He moved to Ottawa alone six months later, leaving his family in Europe. She has prospered in Canada, finishing school and finding a job.
But his Ukrainian passport will expire soon and he doesn’t know if he will be able to renew it.
“I celebrated my 18th birthday in Canada and now I can’t get a Ukrainian passport,” he said in an interview.
In turn, without a valid passport you may not be able to travel or renew your visa to stay in Canada.
To renew his documents, Zakharchenko would have to return to Ukraine and, once there, would be prohibited from leaving.
Ukraine implemented martial law shortly after the Russian invasion in February 2022. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 were prohibited from leaving the country and Ukraine began conscription.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently announced that all consular services would be restricted to men until May 18.
That will be the day when several amendments to Ukraine’s martial law will come into effect. A section of the bill passed by the Ukrainian parliament will require men to be registered with a conscription office in order to receive consular services.
An update posted on the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry website on Wednesday said the suspension was necessary to adjust processes and systems ahead of the legal change.
Men living outside the country should not be free of responsibilities, the Foreign Minister said.
“Staying abroad does not exempt a citizen from his duties,” Kuleba wrote in a post on X.
“A man of draft age went abroad, showed his state that he doesn’t care about his survival and then comes and wants to receive services from this state. He doesn’t work this way.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Ottawa will deal with applications from Ukrainian men without valid passports.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Zakharchenko said of the new restrictions.
He doesn’t think kyiv’s growing pressure to bring men back to the country to fight will work.
“What about the people of the occupied territories? What will they do? “They have nothing,” he stated.
Those whose homes have been destroyed and have no work to return to in Ukraine would struggle, he argued.
For his part, Zakharchenko said he wants to stay in Canada to be able to financially support his family, who lives in Germany.
“I have to work,” he said. “I have to support myself and them.”
He has two jobs lined up for the summer and plans to attend college in a few years. She is applying for permanent residency status to stay in Canada long-term.
Someday, he said, he hopes to return to Ukraine, but not at risk to his future.
“I just want to be safe,” he said. “I have a new life, but I always want to come back to Ukraine and visit it.”
In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy confirmed the “temporary exemption” for men between 18 and 60 years old.
“The temporary suspensions of such services are due to the need to adapt the system and procedures to the new requirements of the law, recently amended by parliament.”
The embassy said more answers could be found on the Foreign Ministry website.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2024.