There are nearly a million Ukrainian refugees registered in Poland, of whom around 16 per cent are males of fighting age.

“Staying abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the homeland,” Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said in a recent post on social media.

On Wednesday, hundreds of Ukrainians were seen queuing outside a closed passport office in Warsaw waiting to receive new passports.

“This is a fight against people who are fleeing the army,” Maksym, a 38-year-old truck driver, said. “We are not asked on what grounds we went abroad … Why am I a draft dodger if I went abroad legally?”