"Now We Can Leave": 10,000 Young People Flee Ukraine in a Week After Travel Ban Lifted

Tenfold Surge in Men Aged 18 to 22 Crossing the Polish Border

Polish media outlet TVP reported on the 12th (local time) that the number of young men leaving Ukraine has surged after the Ukrainian government lifted the travel ban on men aged 18 to 22. According to the report, about 10,000 more Ukrainians crossed the border into Poland during the week following the lifting of the travel ban on the 27th of last month.

Of the two Polish provinces bordering Ukraine, 5,600 men left Ukraine via the Podkarpackie province, a twelvefold increase in one week, while 4,000 men entered through the Lublin province, a tenfold rise. Mykhailo Shevchenko, a 22-year-old from Kharkiv, told the German daily Tagesspiegel, "I couldn't bear living under the threat of missiles and the possibility of conscription." He said he witnessed a friend being taken away for a draft examination and, after that, avoided going outside to escape checkpoints.

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Since the outbreak of war in February 2022, Ukraine has prohibited men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country without special permission. The conscription age was lowered from 27 to 25 last year, and men under 25 can voluntarily enlist.

However, last month, the government revised border procedures to allow men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border freely. The Ukrainian government explained that this measure was intended to provide young people with more opportunities to study abroad.

Nevertheless, some have expressed surprise that the government suddenly lifted the travel ban for men of potential conscription age, citing postwar national reconstruction as the reason, despite a severe shortage of troops. Some analysts suggest that President Volodymyr Zelensky made this decision for political reasons. Krzysztof Nieczpor, from Poland's Eastern Studies Institute, noted that young people aged 18 to 30 formed the core support base when Zelensky was elected president in 2019, and allowing them freedom of movement could strengthen Zelensky's position in future elections.