The Ukrainian government has imposed restrictions on top officials and lawmakers, including women, from traveling outside the country due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.

The border guard service’s spokesman, Andriy Demchenko, announced the new policy last week. According to him, the affected individuals will only be able to leave Ukraine for work purposes.

Men of fighting age were previously ordered to remain in the country, with a few exceptions. Under the new rule, senior officials can only travel abroad if they have to visit their children, for medical reasons, or after the loss of a loved one. The ban also applies to female civil servants and local deputies.

Iryna Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, criticized the decision as a “populist move.” She pointed out that around 15,000 of the local deputies are women and some of them serve as volunteers.

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Gerashchenko also mentioned that the authorities initially encouraged everyone with children to leave for the winter but now they are prohibited from leaving.

The restriction was implemented after several officials were found to have gone on vacation abroad. This included Ukraine’s deputy prosecutor Oleksiy Symonenko, who was on holiday in Marbella, Spain. Symonenko was one of the officials who resigned last week amid a major political shakeup and corruption allegations.

A well-known media outlet recently reported that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had spent her vacation in a luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates.