Recruits from Ukraine’s Third Brigade rest between drills in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, two years ago. For three years of war, Ukraine has banned young men from leaving the country once they turn 18, prompting an exodus of teenage boys. Now it is raising that age limit to 23. Photo / Finbarr O'Reilly, The New York Times
Recruits from Ukraine’s Third Brigade rest between drills in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, two years ago. For three years of war, Ukraine has banned young men from leaving the country once they turn 18, prompting an exodus of teenage boys. Now it is raising that age limit to 23. Photo / Finbarr O'Reilly, The New York Times
Men between the ages of 18 and 22 will no longer be barred from leaving Ukraine under a new regulation that eases a rule introduced in the early days of the Russian invasion to ensure the country had enough soldiers.
The ban on travelling out of the country, which tookeffect under martial law in February 2022, has applied to men aged 18 to 60, including those not yet eligible for the draft, which currently starts at age 25.
Under the new rule, which goes into effect today, men will be allowed to travel outside Ukraine until they are 23.
Over the last three years, many families sent their teenage sons out of the country before they turned 18, to avoid having them eventually conscripted into what has become a grinding war of attrition with high casualty rates.
Announcing the change on Wednesday, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said it would allow young men to travel and study abroad without feeling that they had to leave to avoid the draft.
For the first two years of the war, men younger than 27 were not obliged to fight.
Then in 2024, under pressure from Western allies who were worried about a shortage of Ukrainian soldiers, the country lowered the draft age to 25.
Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, said last year that United States politicians from both parties were pressuring Ukraine to lower the age further. Some US lawmakers have said Ukraine should reduce it to 18.
But the country so far has resisted, pointing to demographic trends stemming from a plunge in birthrates after the fall of the Soviet Union. Ukraine has relatively few men in their early 20s but many in their 40s.
Will the change affect Ukraine’s military?
It’s unclear how the change will affect conscription.
Many parents have been sending children abroad before they turn 18 because of concerns that the war could go on for years or the government could again lower the draft age.
Allowing young men to leave before they turn 23 rather than 18 seems to run against American pressure on Ukraine to funnel younger men into the military.
Many experts cite the Ukrainian Army’s lack of manpower as the country’s greatest challenge in the war against Russia, which has a much bigger population.
Ukrainian military officials stop men on the streets of Kyiv to check whether they have updated their information with the draft office. Photo / Brendan Hoffman, The New York Times
“It’s hard for me to explain this from the perspective of waging a war of attrition,” said Mykhailo Samus, the director of the independent New Geopolitics Research Network in Kyiv.
“Basically, this is the reduction in the size of the mobilisation reserve.”
Other Ukrainian experts and officials said they did not believe the rule change would lead to an exodus of young men and might instead deepen their ties to Ukraine.
Under the new rules, they note, young men are still prohibited from leaving the country for two years before becoming eligible for the draft.
They argue the change could keep some young men in the country longer as contributing members of society and could offer experiences abroad for others who will someday return to aid Ukraine.
“The goal of this step is, first and foremost, to provide young Ukrainians with broader opportunities for education, internships and legal employment abroad, so that the experience they gain can later be used for the development of Ukraine,” Ihor Klymenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs, wrote on Telegram.
How are families reacting?
The change is politically popular in Ukraine, especially among families with boys.
Ukrainians who evacuated early in the war as refugees with sons who turned 18 while abroad have not been able to send them home for a visit unless the young men were prepared to remain permanently in Ukraine.
Often that meant they have been deprived of opportunities to see their fathers in Ukraine.
Once the new regulations take effect, that will change. The move also relieves pressure on families still living in Ukraine with male children.
Oksana, 45, who has a 16-year-old son and two 18-year-old nephews, said her family did not plan to take them out of the country.
Still, she said she was very happy about the rule change “for all of us mothers”.
“Psychologically, it is nice to know that our sons will still be able to have a rest abroad without war threats and at least see the sea and have a safe swim, to spend at least a few weeks without bombs,” said Oksana, who asked that her full name not be used to avoid judgment in society.
