The Politics of Masculinity and Male Refugees in the War in Ukraine

After Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian government banned men aged 18-60 from leaving the country to guarantee timely mobilization for the defense of Ukraine. Additionally, a new mobilization law came into force on 18 May 2024, increasing fines for draft evasion, while making it more challenging to escape military registration. Nevertheless, have thousands of men of military age fled the war or avoided military registration and mobilization since the beginning of the invasion. This group of men has received limited attention in political and international public discourses about the war in Ukraine, as these have been characterized by accounts of bravery and patriotism.

This project investigates how men who chose not to fight militarily are treated and perceived by the Ukrainian state and within society, unpacking how evolving understandings of masculine duty and male war roles informs these perceptions. Moreover, the project examines the perspectives, experiences and challenged faced by Ukrainian men who left abroad and/or avoid mobilization, dissecting complex narratives of guilt, fear, agency, and freedom of choice.

Based on in-depth interviews, with Ukrainians around Europe, I explore the link between gender and stigmatization of Ukrainian men who choose not to fight militarily and map the social and political implications of this dynamic. This research contributes to an overlooked debate on challenges to men’s human rights in wartime, advances theoretical discussion of the politics of masculinity, conscription, and military evasion in modern warfare, while bringing new empirical insights into how Russia’s war of aggression and Ukraine’s martial law policies affects the lives and protection of civilian Ukrainian men.