Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte believe that Lithuania should help Ukraine get back its military-age men living abroad, LRT.lt, the website of Lithuania’s national broadcaster LRT, reported on April 30.

According to the Migration Department, a little over 29,000 military-age Ukrainian men currently have residence permits in Lithuania.

The Ukrainian parliament has recently amended the mobilisation law, lowering the age of conscription to 25 and increasing penalties for military service evaders.

Ukraine has also decided to stop issuing new passports to conscription-age men living abroad and to suspend consular services for men aged 18–60.

“Ukraine needs to have its mobilisation plans,” Nauseda said during a debate on the LRT Radio on April 29. “Ukraine must have the means and instruments to invite its young men to serve their homeland. We must cooperate with Ukraine in every sense.”

For her part, the prime minister believes Lithuania could take steps to help Ukraine, adding, however, that some measures need to be discussed at the EU level.

According to the Migration Department, there is currently no legal basis obliging Lithuania to assist Ukraine in the mobilisation process.

“This is a political issue. The fact that Ukraine or another country has declared mobilisation has no influence on us, according to our legislation. Any reaction, if any, would be a political decision of Lithuania,” Evelina Gudzinskaite, head of the Migration Department, told the ELTA, a Lithuanian news agency, LRT.lt said.

Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said Warsaw was ready to help Kyiv bring back military-age men, though no compulsion would be used. He said Poland might restrict social benefits for Ukrainians, as well as the issuance of work permits and other documents