KYIV (VG) Men are stopped in the middle of the street. Then they could be forcibly mobilized and sent straight to war. Now this tactic is attracting criticism.
- Ukraine is trying to recruit more soldiers for the ongoing war against Russia – including by requiring civilians to serve in the army. The move faces criticism among the country’s population.
- Figures on how many soldiers Ukraine has lost so far in the war are not known.
- Polls show that despite criticism of the draft campaign, a majority of Ukrainians support the war and President Zelensky.
A policeman and a soldier stand near a busy tunnel in the capital, Kiev, in the shadows where they are hard to see.
Mykola, 36, has no idea when he’s on his way home from work.
When he came out of the tunnel, the soldier and the policeman crept out from the shadows. They show their identity.
Mykola’s face turns white. hits by hand. He discusses. all in vain.
The soldier enters his name into a book. Mikola then gets a white slip of paper, before letting go.
Now he has to go to the employment center. From there he would be able to forcibly recruit him as a soldier.
– It’s indescribable. I don’t know what to say to my family. If I were sent to the front, it would already be a rule, he told VG shortly thereafter.
Because now Ukraine needs more and more men on the front line.
They have begun their main counterattack, the goal of which is to recapture the territories occupied by Russia.
One of the controversial means they are now using is street packing, which they have been doing for about half a year. But from July 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a new law that means more people will be mobilized.
The Ukrainian authorities will not say how many Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded or killed. But they lost many of their most experienced warriors.
A leaked Pentagon document from this spring indicated that more than 15,000 soldiers were killed and about 110,000 wounded.
At the beginning of the war, there were long lines at mobilization offices across the country, and many conscripted. Since 2022, they have had a general mobilization, reservists and professional soldiers have been called to the front lines.
In recent months, however, the Ukrainian authorities have struggled to obtain enough soldiers and have therefore had to resort to increasingly drastic methods.
“You can’t just take a man off the street and replace him with a wounded soldier with a lot of military experience,” Zelensky said recently.
in feb advertiser that they had a serious problem with those who tried to evade military service.
– We can’t do it like in Russia where they use clubs to force people to war.
Although the new methods are controversial, the performances investigations That the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians support how to conduct a defensive war and President Zelensky.
Ukrainian Alina Mikhailova works on the front lines as a combat nurse. I told VG the need for new soldiers is enormous.
Now new recruits sometimes come with health problems and are not ready for battle.
At the same time, you think that many people in Ukraine are very relaxed and irresponsible.
She criticizes the fact that more people are not enlisting as soldiers to contribute to the war.
– Before the war, we might have been talking about voluntary mobilization. But when the army of another country invades our country, they must think that sooner or later they will have to take an active part in the liberation of our country.
He bribed his way out of military service
Being summoned to the mobilization office has three consequences:
- They get a medical exam that says they can’t serve.
- They update your information eg if you are studying then you are exempt from service.
- Or you can be sent to a military base to train before becoming a soldier.
In Ukraine, men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country, with certain exceptions.
Ignoring a subpoena can result in an indictment, but such cases are rarely punished in Ukraine.
Outside a packing house in Kiev stands 18-year-old Dima. Since he was studying he is exempt from military service.
– I think that fools and alcoholics should instead be mobilized. Not the people on the street. But in any case, they need to be properly trained, and not sent straight to the meat grinder.
Some of the mobilized soldiers are said to have had only a few weeks of training before ending up at the front.
There was also criticism of how the mobilization occurred. Among other things, stories of individual men threatened by soldiers were published civilians for recruitment.
Other men must have by bribery Border guards for you to leave the country, or paid NOK 100,000 to avoid packing.
The Ukrainian military summit is being investigated by the Ukrainians Corruption hunters To make large sums of money to help men out of military service.
It’s happening in a country that has huge problems with it corruption.
Others are warning each other on Telegram:
The Security Service of Ukraine said it had shut down dozens of Telegram channels where Kyiv residents alerted each other where street mobilization was taking place.
But VG has seen many of them still in operation, and some groups have as many as 100,000 members.
One of the Telegram channels that can be translated as “Meeting in Kiev”, with the description “A channel that informs the people of Kiev about Happiness tickets. “
This is how VG also detected one of the moves earlier in July. One of the entries reads: “Poznyak park. Three pieces. They are now distributing them.
33,000 people see the post.
“Shitbags!” , one comment.
Another commented sarcastically: “Free people in a free country.”
When the VG arrived at the park, a policeman and a soldier were standing and handing out mobilization flyers to random men.
The man who sees them turns on his heels and goes another way.
Another chants “garbage bags” shortly after he passes by.
36-year-old Roman gets a ticket in hand. He works as a construction worker, but now he may have to become a soldier.
– What is happening. I already have plans for tomorrow, but now they have changed. Now I have to deal with this.
Nearby sits a muscular man selling cellphone covers. 28-year-old Sergey is critical of the whole scheme.
– It’s completely random. Nor do we know what training they receive before being sent to the front.
He himself is afraid of being suddenly stopped.
– I worry, because I have plans, and a life to take care of.
But he will not hide for this reason.
– I’m not afraid to kill, if I get a ticket I’ll accept it.
But then Sergei followed up with a rhetoric that was unintelligible in Ukraine at the beginning of the war.
– What are we fighting for, people die. And life is not getting better, but worse and worse. Nobody knows what the Ukrainian authorities or the Russian authorities are thinking.
– But Ukraine says that this is the only way to restore the country?
– If you ask a soldier’s mother, what do you prefer, a living son or a Crimean one. The mother will answer her son. But I understand that getting our lands back is also important.
“Coffee trailblazer. Certified pop culture lover. Infuriatingly humble gamer.”
