An Attack on the Future of the Nation

"The emergence of an aggressive stance among parts of society, which can lead to conflicts, is a serious issue."

"There are indirect indications that these sentiments are being fuelled by Russia, and that a firm response is needed."

"In this way, a line of division -- a fault line of conflict -- is being provoked within our society." 

"There is no split in Ukrainian society. [However], there is tension regarding military recruitment centers, regarding mobilization, and unfortunately this tension is growing."

"Unfortunately, there is clear corruption and excessive use of violence." 

Volodymyr Fensenko, head, Penta Research Institute, Kyiv

 

"On the one hand, everyone says we must fight until victory, and on the other hand, everyone is running away from mobilization."

"This is a huge, enormous problem.Wars are not won without people. Without people, wars are lost, that does happen."

"But winning without people -- that simply doesn't exist."

Kyrylo Budanov, former head, military intelligence agency, Ukraine   

Ukraine has struggled to build a steady pipeline of recruits to replenish its frontline units, many of whom are exhausted defending against a larger Russian army. 

 

Allegiance to Ukraine in its existential struggle against Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation' is seemingly in short supply of late, as young and old Ukrainian men seek to avoid conscription simply by not responding when they're drafted. As the first shock of the February invasion in 2022 stunned the population there was no end of volunteers committed to defending their country against the Russian military ordered by the Kremlin to respond to 'threats from Ukraine' issued by its 'neo-Nazi' government. As the war wore on, that eagerness to defend also wore out.

 

Military draft officers in Ukraine are now facing violent resistance from the very men they're tasked to check on. And this resistance is occurring in the west of Ukraine, where there are vanishingly few Russian-speaking Ukrainians whose loyalties are split between Ukraine and Russia. A rising number of incidents where draft officers in the commission of their duties are facing resistance against mobilization has created tensions within Ukrainian society. 

 

The Ukrainian military stands at about 900,000 servicemen, many of whom have been mired in frontline fighting, and are overdue for rest and recuperation, but face the reality that replacements are hard to come by. The issue of  recalcitrant loyalties from a public tired of a war entering its fifth year is a bedevilling one. Who will rescue Ukraine from the military talons of Russia, if not Ukrainians themselves? Yet the situation is so tight, military authorities in Ukraine have taken to persuading foreigners to join their ranks.

 

The critical issue of rotation, to relieve overworked and exhausted Ukrainian soldiers in dire need of a break is an emergency looking for rescue. Russia's population, four times that of Ukraine's, doubtless reflects a similar situation which is why, infamously, prison inmates in Russia were drafted with the promise their crimes leading to imprisonment would be absolved with their agreement to lend themselves to the war effort.

 

While Ukraine continues to confront the Russian threat, their nemesis Putin has taken to paying rich financial bonuses and salaries as persuasion for 30,000 to 40,000 men each month to sign on to army contracts to replenish the forces sent to Ukraine killed on the battlefield in huge numbers. When the Russian draft of 2022 was implemented, hundreds of thousands of eligible fighting men fled Russia for abroad, and haven from the conflict's enlistment enforcement.  

 

An army recruitment center in Lviv, Ukraine. Assaults on military recruiters in the country almost tripled to 341 last year compared with 2024, and more than 100 have been recorded so far this year. Bloomberg.com

 

Ukraine relies on conscription and appeals to patriotism. Under its martial law, all Ukrainian men between ages 25 and 60 are eligible for military service unless they have an exemption; otherwise they are sent a draft notice. According to official data,  some  two million men in Ukraine are held to have violated the rules of conscription, leading to their being sought out by police. As a result of widespread evasion of joining the military, there is anger among those serving and the families of troops who are under arms, defending Ukraine.

 

In fear of a popular backlash, government and parliament hesitate to tighten conscription, and so look to foreign fighters and identifying personnel in Ukraine's military ranks positioned in the rear, for deployment to combat in the frontlines, to help with the needed rotation. Draft dodgers are being hunted at their homes, workplaces and in the streets, which has led to conflict spilling onto social media and dividing opinion; some supporting the draft officers, others the men who evade their military responsibilities. 

 

In early April, a conscription officer was stabbed to death in the city of Lviv, the assailant striking the officer from behind, thrusting the dagger into his neck while  the officer's attention was elsewhere. "When the law is broken and no one is held accountable, it will be broken more often. This is, first, an attack on the life of a Ukrainian soldier, and second, an attack on the future of the nation", stated Mykola Melnyk, a Ukrainian military veteran. 

 

Police checking civilians documents for military recruitment check a disabled man's documents at a train station in Dnipro, Ukraine. (Ed Ram/For The Washington Post/Getty Images)