Ukrainian lawmaker claims soldiers ordered to serve notices outside church

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Ukrainian lawmaker claims soldiers ordered to serve notices outside church

A politician has claimed that religous worshippers have been ordered to attend military enlistments.

A member of the nationlal parliament has claimed that officials were seen distributing conscription notices outside a church in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Sunday.

Ukraine called for a general mobilization of men aged 18 to 60 shortly after Russia launched its military campaign against the country in late February. The law doesn't specify where notices must be handed out, but they must be served in person.

Nikolay Knyazhnitsky, a member of the European Solidarity Party, criticized the practice of serving notices at places of worship in a Facebook post.

It is Sunday in Lviv. People are traditionally going to church. Knyazhitsky wrote that someone had an idea to serve notices from military enlistment offices outside the church.

There are outraged priests who are making phone calls. They have a reason to be outraged. There are many ways to invite people to an enlistment office. Like serving a notice at a workplace or in a home. He said that you certainly shouldn't do it at church. People go there for spiritual protection and support. It is not a place where one has to walk around and serve notices in the middle of a prayer. The lawmaker said that many people want to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces but are turned down at the same time. More than 400 establishments in Kiev, including night clubs, were inspected last week by police and military officials, and served notices to 219 military-aged patrons.

Most military-aged men are barred from leaving Ukraine by a presidential decree issued in February. A bill introduced by a group of MPs last month made it illegal for men aged 18 to 60 to leave Ukraine during martial law.

On Sunday, MP Georgy Mazurashu proposed granting more exemptions to military-aged men who want to travel outside the country, including those with small children or certain work contracts abroad.

The authorities haven't released the exact numbers on mobilization, but Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said last month that hundreds of thousands had been mobilized.