Ukraine Allows Men Below Draft Age to Go Abroad

Some Ukrainian lawmakers say it was unfair to prevent young men under the draft age from leaving the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during a meeting with foreign officials in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 25, 2025. Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo

Ukraine has eased its travel restrictions to allow men ages 18 to 22 to leave the country freely, the first time since it went to war with Russia more than three years ago.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced the change on Aug. 26 on her Telegram channel. She said this decision also applies to citizens who, “for various reasons, find themselves currently abroad.”

“We want Ukrainians to maintain ties with Ukraine as much as possible,” Svyrydenko said.

The announcement comes as Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, considers proposed legislation that would formally change the wartime procedure for leaving Ukraine for men who are too young to be drafted.

Ruslan Stefanchuk, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, has argued that travel restrictions on men aged 18 to 25 are unfair, since they are not subject to mobilization yet still barred from pursuing education or job opportunities abroad, or reuniting with family overseas.

“There are people aged 18 to 25 who are not subject to mobilization, but they cannot exercise their rights,” Stefanchuk said at a youth forum in Kyiv in July, reported state broadcaster Suspilne. “We must find a mechanism to enable them to exercise their rights.”

Kyiv declared martial law and general mobilization on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since then, men between 18 and 60 have generally been barred from leaving the country, regardless of eligibility for service. There are a few exceptions, such as men with three or more children under 18, or with children who have disabilities.

Currently, only men aged 25 to 60 can be conscripted into the armed forces, but since July 2024, all men aged 18 to 60 must carry military registration documents and present them upon request from a military or police officer, especially at border checkpoints.

As of June 2025, about 4.3 million Ukrainians were living in European Union countries, including a little more than 1 million adult men, according to the bloc’s Eurostat database.

In April 2024, Kyiv cut off consular services for men living abroad, a move intended to pressure them to return and potentially bolster the pool of fighting forces. The policy effectively prevents men aged 18 to 60 outside the country from renewing passports without traveling back to Ukraine.

Both Ukraine and Russia have scaled up the size of their militaries in 2025. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in January said that Kyiv now fields about 880,000 soldiers nationwide, though the war effort continues to rely heavily on Western support. Russia, after drafting 160,000 men aged 18 to 30 this spring, is believed to have between 580,000 and 700,000 active-duty troops in or near Ukraine, with Ukrainian military intelligence estimating the figure at around 620,000.