(ConservativeSense.com) – The Biden administration has warned dual US-Ukrainian citizens that they may not be permitted to leave Ukraine under new regulations drawn up by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government. The latest rules prohibit men of conscription age from leaving the country, ending the previous allowances for dual citizens to do so.
Formerly, men between 18 and 60 were exempt from conscription if they could prove they had permanent residence elsewhere. However, this exemption has now been revoked, prompting the US embassy in Kyiv to alert its citizens.
The American warning recommended that Ukrainian citizens living in the United States do not travel to Ukraine, stating, “There is an extremely high risk you will not be allowed to depart, even with a US passport.”
Ukraine is reportedly experiencing a significant troop shortage as a new front opens amid Russian assaults on the city of Kharkiv in the country’s northeast. In May, President Zelenskyy signed new laws requiring all men aged 18 to 60 to register with the military and to carry their completed registration forms with them at all times. Zelenskyy sought the change as he warned that Russian troops could outnumber his own by a factor of ten to one.
Some military families have complained, however, that the new legislation does not clarify how long frontline soldiers will be required to serve or when those currently fighting will be permitted to return home. The country’s Parliament has drifted back and forth on the issue, making numerous legislative amendments, and families say they were promised a three-year maximum term for their loved ones, but this has not materialized.
Anastasia Bulba, whose husband is on the front line, says the Parliament has betrayed Ukraine’s troops. “The country’s defenders, on whom the independence of the entire country rests, have been deceived,” she said. Families gathered outside Parliament in April, demanding that legislation include a time frame and clarity on when soldiers will be allowed to return to their families.
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