UKRAINE, Jun 18 — On June 18, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved law №11469 on multiple citizenship, said Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a Ukrainian politician.

Ukraine currently has a single citizenship according to Article 4 of the Constitution of Ukraine. Multiple citizenship would allow Ukrainian citizens to hold passports of foreign countries without losing their Ukrainian citizenship.

On 22 January 2024, Unity of Ukraine Day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would initiate the draft law on implementing multiple citizenship.

In December 2024, Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law introduced by the President. 

Now, after the law is approved in the second and final reading, the Cabinet of Ministers should indicate the list of countries whose citizenship can be recognized as the second.

The explanatory note accompanying the bill said that this law could help return those Ukrainians who were forced to move out from Ukraine because of a full-scale Russian invasion and save their Ukrainian passports.

At the same time, the human rights defenders criticize this law. Alona Lunova, the head of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, said this document is “very important, but it also has some risks.”

The approved bill updates the law “On Citizenship of Ukraine.” Under a new law, multiple citizenship can’t be applied to people with Russian passports because the Ukrainian government recognizes this country as a terrorist state. So, having a Russian passport becomes a reason for losing Ukrainian citizenship, which can affect people from occupied territories, explains Lunova. 

The other reasons for losing Ukrainian citizenship are connected to Ukrainians who were forced to work for the Russian occupation authorities and facilitating Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“This draft bill creates risks for those people who live in occupation and are forced to communicate with the occupation government, for example, those who were forcibly mobilized,” said Lunova.

She also noted that there are people who resist the occupation and help the other people there to survive. According to approved law, they could be charged for collaboration with occupation authorities and lose their Ukrainian passports.

Lunova added that the law has risks for children of stateless persons who were born in Ukraine or USSR and lived there all the time.

“These children do not have Ukrainian documents, but they should have the right to obtain Ukrainian citizenship by birth and not have to wait for their parents to obtain a passport of Ukraine or another country,” explained Lunova.

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