1.2 million Ukrainian men have left the country illegally, according to MP Skorokhod (video).

Since the beginning of mobilization in Ukraine, approximately 1.2 million men have left the country illegally. This was stated by Anna Skorokhod, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the "For the Future" party, during a discussion about the new Ministry of National Unity, which is expected to work on bringing Ukrainians back home, in an interview.

The deputy suggested that the Ministry of Unity in Ukraine was established not only for the purpose of repatriating Ukrainians from abroad and supporting Ukrainian communities in other countries but also for preparing for future elections.

"I think the ministry is designed for the elections. That’s my theory. We have a huge number of people abroad. They are unlikely to return before the elections. They need to be counted, to understand where they are located, and to somehow organize them. I believe the public aspect of this ministry is one: to bring all Ukrainians home, to ensure their guaranteed rights even abroad, and so on. But the real task is indeed preparation for the elections," Anna Skorokhod stated.

According to her, authorities need to clearly know how many Ukrainians live in different regions of each country in order to plan the voting process.

"We have an understanding of how many people are abroad approximately, but you don’t know exactly how many are in Poland and how they are distributed across regions. How many are in Warsaw, how many in Krakow, how many in Wroclaw. This also plays a political role. I believe there will be negotiations on how to conduct this there. Consular institutions — let’s be honest, they cannot handle it. Perhaps online voting will be added, but authorization is needed. And for authorization abroad, you must be registered, and we understand that over a million men have left the country illegally, possibly one hundred and twenty thousand," the MP stated.

It should be noted that on December 3, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appointed the Chairman of the Board of NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine" Alexey Chernyshov as the Minister of the new Ministry of National Unity. At the same time, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak mentioned that the budget for the future agency's operations has not yet been determined.

Additionally, on December 5, the Director of the National Museum of History of Ukraine, Fedor Androshchuk, explained why he did not return from abroad to Ukraine. According to him, he is a citizen of Sweden and has lived there for over 25 years, while he was in Ukraine temporarily.