Prohibit men from leaving Ukraine for three years after war ends: Denysenko comments on his idea

Vadym Denysenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, former advisor to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, commented on his idea to restrict men's travel abroad for three years after the end of the war with Russia

He said this in a commentary to NV.

There is no professional discussion on this topic now, and there is practically no research, Denysenko said. Instead, he named the Ukrainian Institute for the Future as the only organization that has conducted research on migration sentiment. So, according to him, we can say that after the war is over, about a million men will leave for Europe.

"And we can say that there are two things that need to be understood: that 50% of those who are currently abroad will return from the current migration, and it is highly likely that after the war is over, approximately 1 million men will go to Europe to their women. This is what we should discuss," Denysenko said.

As for the reaction to his post, the head of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future says that it means that society does not want a serious discussion, but wants to "hype, hate and in two days continue talking about something completely different."

The proposal to restrict men's travel abroad after the war is "one of the cardinal options" that is not the only one or the only right one, Denysenko said. He claims that he wanted to start a discussion, but instead "it all came down to 'you are the fool'.

"But (after the war - ed.) we will have only three options. The first is a very depopulated territory called Ukraine, where a small number of people will live. The second is that we will have to talk about bringing in at least 2 million people from Asia. The third option is the one I have suggested," Denysenko adds.

The idea to limit men's travel abroad after the war for three years

Earlier, Denisenko wrote on Facebook that he believed that after the war, the ban on men traveling abroad should be extended for at least three years, "otherwise we simply will not survive as a nation." Later, he clarified that he was not referring to a ban, but to restrictions on travel.

Ukrainians began to actively react and criticize this idea online. 

The Ministry of Internal Affairs reminded them that Denysenko's statement was a personal opinion, not the position of the ministry: "In response to numerous requests from journalists, I am reporting officially: Vadym Denysenko is not an advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs."