Ukraine is cutting off consular services for its male citizens who live outside the country. The measure aims to force men back home to serve in the military, but some doubt its efficacy — and legality.

“Good thing that I got my passport last year in Cologne and don’t have to go back to the consulate,” said Oleg from Kyiv, who didn’t give his last name. Today, he lives with his wife and three children in Germany. That was his reaction to a statement from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announcing that male citizens of military age who currently live outside Ukraine will no longer have access to full consular services. The measure is primarily aimed at individuals who have not registered with the military.

“Living abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to their homeland,” Kuleba wrote Tuesday on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, adding that he called for the measures to guarantee, “fair treatment of men of mobilization age in Ukraine and abroad.”

How the fuck do we defend something as a “just war” when the citizens are desperately trying not to die in it???