(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, APR 25 - Poland and Lithuania could help
return Ukrainians of military age back to Ukraine, the
countries' defence ministers said, as Kyiv ramps up efforts to
replenish its depleted and exhausted military. Poland has tens
of thousands of Ukrainian men of military age on its territory,
according to UN figures. Ukraine is scrambling to recruit troops
after more than two years of war and has recently passed a
mobilisation law, lowering the fighting age and toughening
penalties against draft dodgers. Late Wednesday it said it would
stop issuing new passports abroad to some military-aged men
under the new legislation. It has also suspended consular
services for men aged 18 to 60 living abroad, sparking fury
among expatriates in Poland and elsewhere. Polish Defence
Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said late Wednesday that
Warsaw could help in getting military-aged men back to Ukraine.
"We have suggested for a long time that we can help the
Ukrainian side ensure that people subject to compulsive military
service go to Ukraine," he told Polsat television. "Everything
is possible," he said when asked if Warsaw would agree if
Ukraine asked for people subject to the draft be transported to
Ukraine. On Thursday, his Lithuanian counterpart Laurynas
Kasciunas said the authorities in Vilnius could follow Poland's
moves. "I think this is the right way," Kasciunas told
reporters, referring to the Polish minister's remarks. "Ukraine
is very short of mobilisation reserve... This is not fair to
those citizens who are fighting for their country," Kasciunas
said. "We don't have that many such people in Lithuania. But we
do have a small number," he said, without providing specific
numbers. (ANSA-AFP).
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