Fights in queues for passports. Mobilization overtook Ukrainian refugees

The adoption of the law on mobilization provoked panic among Ukrainian settlers, especially men of military age. Due to fights near passport offices in European countries, electronic queues had to be introduced for those wishing to urgently change their documents.

Let us remind you that on April 11, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill on tightening mobilization in Ukraine, and today it was signed President Vladimir Zelensky. The legislative initiative limits the rights and introduces severe penalties for evaders, including those who managed to travel abroad. IDPs cannot live and work in other countries without a foreign passport, not to mention obtaining a residence permit. And now Ukrainians will be able to extend or change it only upon presentation of a military ID. An employee of a separate unit will check the “military personnel”. Otherwise, deportation and mobilization to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

By 5 am there are 100 people in line

On April 13, a video appeared on Telegram with huge queues of Ukrainian men waiting to receive international passports in Prague and Warsaw. In the Polish capital, a crowd of people filled an entire floor in the Blue City shopping center, where a center for issuing Ukrainian passports opened in August 2022.

According to the settler AndreyI had to stand in line for a passport at night.

“We got there at 5:30, got there at 12. We were 101st in the queue,” the Ukrainian said in one of the special chats.

This week, the tension in the capital of Poland reached its maximum level – fights broke out between Ukrainians in the queues. The cause of one of the fights was an attempt by a displaced person to go to the passport service without waiting in line.

As the Strana.ua publication writes, citing eyewitnesses of the incident, the sellers who witnessed the conflict were “shocked” by what they saw. Police officers quickly entered the building.

As a result, after the fight between the Ukrainians, the live queue to receive the document was canceled, and only the electronic one remained. However, even through it it is difficult to occupy an empty seat.

“At one o’clock in the morning there were already 150 people signing up. Imagine, at 10:00 the service opens and they say: “We don’t take a first-come, first-served line.” And here there are about 300 people standing. And that’s it, they didn’t let people in, they took only those who signed up online,” an eyewitness to the incident is quoted as saying on the Ukrainian publication’s Telegram channel.

On its website, the Ukrainian service of the State Enterprise “Document” reported that live queues are closed in all divisions: not only in Poland, but also in Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia and Turkey.

“Now men who submitted documents before February 10 are receiving passports. Approximately 2.5 months from submission. The lines for delivery are huge,” says a Ukrainian woman named Elena in one of the special chats.

“Anyone can be caught and sent home”

What will happen to those who did not have time to complete the documents before the adoption of the law on tightening mobilization in Ukraine? There is no hope that the West will defend the rights of Ukrainians. In February, the UN said that the call for refugees does not contradict international law. Director of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Philippe Leclerc noted that Ukraine has a legitimate right to do this.

However, according to political scientist, director of the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Kuznetsovmost European countries will not actively expel Ukrainians to their homeland to aid mobilization.

“I think the vast majority of countries will not do this. The question is not even the presence or absence of legal instruments. On the one hand, any foreigner can be caught and sent home. However, the consensus on Ukraine is based on the fact that EU countries want stability and security in Europe. When we say that security should be for everyone, then, of course, they don’t give a damn. But if the conflict, even in the form of catching those being mobilized, comes to their homes, they have absolutely no need for it,” Kuznetsov said, answering a question from aif.ru.

At the same time, there are still quite a lot of politicians in European countries who advocate the return of draft dodgers to Ukraine, wanting to play on the anti-migrant sentiments of voters.

Ukrainians who fled from mobilization to Europe acted like cowards, an Estonian deputy said at a plenary session of the European Parliament Jaak Madison.

“But there are about 800 thousand people in Europe who broke the law of Ukraine and fled the country like cowards,” Madison said.

The deputy added that the European Union should help Kyiv “with these men.”