Kyiv to call on men living abroad to fight - scared for DH

[embroideredheart]

I'm British and my husband is Ukrainian. He has lived in the UK for several years, on a work visa, but doesn't have citizenship. He will soon apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain which means that later he can, a year after that, apply for citizenship. But ILR doesn't give you a British passport. He can't apply for citizenship yet.

I just read this https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-ukraine-to-call-on-men-living-abroad-to-fight/live-67787662

It says that if they don't respond to the "invitation", there will be penalties.

I'm so worried. Apart from obviously being terrified at the prospect of him having to go and fight in an extremely dangerous warzone, we have a high mortgage that is paid entirely from his salary (I'm a sahm). So if he went on a Ukrainian military salary, I don't know what we'd do. Being less qualified than he is I would not be able to earn enough to cover the mortgage.

Would they really force Ukrainian men with dependents abroad to uproot their lives, or else enforce penalties? What if it's a fine that you can't afford to pay? Would the Ukrainian men then have a criminal record?

Has anyone ever found themselves in a situation where their husband living in the UK has been called to fight abroad? If so, what did you do?

I know the prospect if frightening but worrying won't do any good.

What penalties could they realistically enforce if he refused to go?

You could look into things like income protection insurance to safeguard your mortgage maybe?

Surely this would be grounds for an asylum claim, if he doesn't want to fight? What penalty can be imposed on him if he doesn't live there?

They've said there will be penalties. I don't know how they would enforce them though, if the men are living abroad.

Hi OP, are you married? If so he can apply for citizenship straight away, he doesn't need to wait the year.

To clarify, once he gets IRL, and provided that he's lived here for the minimum amount of time. Good luck!

Oh I did not realise this. Thank you. In that case, he'll apply for citizenship as a matter of urgency. Hopefully they won't be calling men up from abroad before he gets it though...

My dad had this many years ago in a different country. They couldn't force him back but had he returned to the country he could have been prosecuted as an offence was created. Consequently he has never returned, it would be fine now as the country has changed massively but we are talking 50 years ago. I would try not to worry, but realistically there could be an impact if you were ever planning on travelling there so keep an eye on what the consequences would be in Ukraine.

I imagine that would only work if he also renounces his Ukrainian citizenship rather than being a dual citizen.

I don’t know the technicalities but I heard something about requiring men the other day

I wondered who that meant. Good luck op I hope you can resolve it

Yes, Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship.

I doubt there's anything they can do to force him to go back, but if he doesn't cooperate then he probably won't ever be able to return to Ukraine without facing a punishment of some kind.

I imagine the "penalty" would be imposed if he returned to Ukraine. The penalty might be confiscation of his passport upon arrival in his country. I have known of men living in Europe who haven't done the national service requirement in their country of origin...they avoid going back home because they know that if they do they will be stuck there.

Get citizenship as soon as possible.

They can't force him to go back. There's no way the Police here will round up Ukrainian men to send them to fight. However, he may have difficulties if ge returns to Ukraine in the future.

They won’t be able to do anything if he refuses
it could certainly be problematic if he returns to Ukraine though
(that said returning once he had British citizenship should not be a problem)