Belarusian soldier may be expelled from Ukraine because he cannot legalize his status. All due to a law meant to simplify legalization

Belarusian volunteer Emiliy Labeika may be expelled from Ukraine in November because his Belarusian passport was destroyed. The new law, intended to simplify the legalization of foreign military personnel in Ukraine, is to blame, as it worsened the situation for Labeika, writes Radio Svaboda.

Belarusian Emiliy Labeika has been fighting on Ukraine's side since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. However, after four years of service – this November – he may be forced to leave the country. All because the volunteer from Belarus cannot legalize his status in Ukraine.

The reason for this is a new law that was intended to facilitate the legalization of foreign military personnel in Ukraine, to prevent them from falling into a legal void and losing their legal status even six months after the expiration of their contract.

Law No. 4730‑IX came into effect on May 10, 2026. According to it, all military personnel who began serving in Ukraine before this date and have not yet received a residence permit are required to submit documents to the migration service by November 10. As a result, they can obtain a residence permit.

However, for Emiliy Labeika, this law played an opposite role. He cannot submit the necessary package of documents – he has no passport. Labeika's Belarusian passport was destroyed during the shelling of Kramatorsk in May 2023, he previously told Svaboda.

He cannot get a new passport because, in the same year, Lukashenka banned the issuance of new passports through embassies abroad. It is dangerous for Emiliy to travel to Belarus for new documents – in Belarus, he faces prison for fighting for another state. He is on Russia's wanted list. And in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region, in the so-called "DPR", he was sentenced.

Previously, for Emiliy's legal stay in Ukraine, it was sufficient that he had a military ID. His command saw his valid passport when admitting him to service. On November 10, the Belarusian's legal status may expire. Although his current contract is supposed to be valid until the summer of 2028.

For more than a year, Labeika has served in the 21st Kraken Drone Systems Regiment, which is part of the Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Ground Forces (not to be confused with the Kraken special unit of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate). Labeika says he joined there already based on a passport photocopy. Until 2025, Emiliy served with the International Legion under Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate. He adds that he was then informally considered to be part of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment.

"I did serve in the legion. But with those Belarusians I served with, we called ourselves the 'Kalinouski Regiment'," he notes.

As Emiliy Labeika told Svaboda, he actually had six months – starting from May 10 – to resolve his legalization issue. Three weeks remain. According to him, his current command took up this problem a week ago and began collecting his documents to submit them to the State Migration Service (SMS).

"What will happen next if I cannot submit an application? Now, as far as I understand, there simply isn't any procedure by which I can submit documents. It's unclear what they will do next," Labeika comments.

The volunteer hopes that he will not be detained and forcibly deported, especially not to Belarus, where he faces prison. But he considers the option that he will be obliged to pack his belongings himself after November 10 and leave the country within a few days.

"I don't think anyone will send me to Belarus... Especially since I am a very experienced fighter. Sending me to a place where they would only gloat over what Ukraine has done... So, I think they will still give me a certain period, and I will just have to leave," Labeika comments.

He believes that if foreigners learn that an active foreign volunteer can be forced to leave the country due to a lack of documents, they will stop joining the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"I am skeptical that they will do so (force Labeika to leave Ukraine. — RS), but I don't rule it out. It would be a heavy blow to the country's image overall. I am a public person, I always talk about my problems," Emiliy comments.

In August, Labeika appealed to the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which deals with human rights, to help resolve his document problem. He says that after this appeal, he began receiving responses from various services, including the Security Service of Ukraine, the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the prosecutor's office, and the police (copies of some responses are available to the Svaboda editorial office).

Essentially, they state that no exception can be made for Labeika's situation to process his documents without a passport, or that the body found no violations in the earlier review of the Belarusian volunteer's situation.

"I am currently in some kind of legal loophole where I can do nothing," notes the volunteer.

Emiliy says that if he is ultimately forced to leave Ukraine, he will go to Poland, because, in his opinion, such document problems as his are best resolved there. Emiliy assumes that he might then return to programming. In Belarus, he had not completed his education in the relevant field.

Emiliy Labeika is 26 years old. He went to fight in Ukraine at the age of 21. He is from Bobruisk and took the call sign "Bobr" (Beaver). He participated in the 2020 protests in Bobruisk and Minsk. He dropped out of his distance learning at the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics. In July 2021, he left Belarus for Poland and worked at McDonald's. He notes that his parents did not support his choice — neither to leave Belarus nor to go to war. The young man is currently not in contact with them. In Belarus, he also has a former wife and two children. He also does not maintain contact with them.

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