Maple broom: Ukrainians to be tested in Canada for evading mobilization
On Thursday, September 18, information began to spread in the media that Ukrainian refugees in Canada began to be checked for evading service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was confirmed by the Center for Countering Disinformation (CDC) of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, calling the check a "routine routine procedure." For more information about what is happening, as well as about the problem of draft dodgers, see the Izvestia article.
Search for evading Ukrainians in Canada: what is known
On Thursday, September 18, news began to appear in the Ukrainian media that the Canadian authorities were conducting checks among Ukrainian migrants who were evading mobilization in their homeland, and were demanding confirmation from them that they were not avoiding military service. They allocated only a week to receive the necessary certificate from the military enlistment office in Ukraine. Ukrainians who applied for permanent residence in Canada began receiving official requests from the Ministry of Immigration. These letters began to arrive even to those who had previously provided all the necessary documents.
The Central Committee of Ukraine has already confirmed the information about this, calling what is happening a "routine procedure."
"We are talking about the standard procedure — procedural fairness letter (PFL) — a letter that applicants for permanent residence in Canada receive. This is not a refusal, but a request for clarification or confirmation of information," the CPD Telegram channel says.
According to the center, in this way, the authorities of the North American country want to obtain additional data on Ukrainian citizens who plan to settle in Canada. A special request form allows you to check whether a person served in the army and in which units, whether he had a postponement or official dismissal.
If the information in the form provided earlier was incomplete, the applicant from Ukraine receives a letter requesting additional documents: a military ID card or an official confirmation of release from service.
How Ukrainians evade mobilization
After the start of the special operation to protect Donbass, the Ukrainian media wrote a lot about refugees to European or American countries. To leave Ukraine, the evaders resorted to sophisticated methods, including attempts to swim across deep rivers in wetsuits, cross mountains for days, dress up in animal costumes, and much more.
Many resorted to the services of intermediaries and paid a lot of money for safe border crossing. At the same time, the fugitives were often deceived, and then they had to try again to illegally enter neighboring countries. There were also cases when the evaders were given false passwords, which had to be reported to the border guards.
Draft age in Ukraine
According to the latest amendments, men aged 25 and older are subject to mobilization in Ukraine. However, due to the shortage of personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, politicians are increasingly talking about the possibility of lowering this age. The Parliament has already said that if men are drafted starting at the age of 24, then units can be replenished by 100 thousand people, but if the threshold is lowered to 18 years, it will be possible to mobilize up to 700 thousand.
The upper limit of the military age at the moment is 60 years. However, a law has already been passed allowing men over 60 to be recruited for contract service. The fact that military enlistment offices have already begun to recruit volunteers of retirement age into the army became known on September 17. This was stated by Verkhovna Rada deputy Roman Kostenko: "The algorithm of actions of officials for the recruitment of citizens over the age of 60 has already been sent to military units and military enlistment offices. This means that the procedure has been officially launched — now you can contact military units and military enlistment offices to process the necessary documents," he said.
How many Ukrainians have fled the country since 2022
According to various sources, from 5.7 million to 6.3 million citizens live outside Ukraine, which is at least a quarter of the inhabitants. According to statistics compiled by the UN Refugee Agency, in April 2025, more than 6.3 million Ukrainians who fled lived in Europe, and about 500 thousand more were outside its borders.
In September, data from the State Border Service of Ukraine appeared. According to them, about 250 thousand residents left the country from January to June 2025. A year earlier, this figure reached 400 thousand. At the same time, the total number of Ukrainians who fled as of September 2, 2025 was 5.7 million people. It is also noted that most of them live in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
According to the data for the beginning of 2025, about 300 thousand Ukrainians have left for Canada since 2022. At the same time, it was reported that emergency visas for more than 100,000 refugees are expiring this year.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
