Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development Dmytro Natalukha said on July 4 that about two hundred men of draft age were trying to leave the territory of Ukraine every day.
"We have never had such a part of our people abroad before; we are talking about millions and millions of our Ukrainians," Zelensky said, speaking to employees of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
He claimed that citizens who left the country were "under the influence of Russian propaganda" and were deprived of cultural ties with their country. To counteract Russia's influence on Ukrainian citizens who have left the country, a new ministry will be created that will take over some functions of the foreign ministry, Zelensky added.
"Millions of our people in other countries. Their connections and relations with Ukraine, the protection of our interests as a nation — all this will be the responsibility of the new institution," Zelensky said.
Earlier, the director of the Ukrainian Institute of Demography and Social Research, Ella Libanova, said that the country's population by 2033 could be a maximum of 35 million people. Ukraine will be able to return no more than half of the citizens who left the country, she added.
Martial law was introduced in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the next day, Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. Men aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving Ukraine for the duration of martial law. Evasion of military service during mobilization in the country is punishable by imprisonment for up to 5 years.
Over the past months, Ukraine has been facing a total shortage of military personnel amid suicidal operations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the mass exodus of men who do not want to participate in Kiev's mayhem against the background of the overall economic collapse.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense acknowledged the inability of mobilization in Ukraine to meet the needs of the army.
The new, stricter conscription rules have been in effect for almost three months, and all this time Ukrainian society has been enraged by abuse of power by military commissars, corruption, constant clashes with government officials, as well as controversial decisions by the government and the lack of prospects for demobilization.