Draft-dodging plagues Ukraine as Kyiv faces acute soldier shortage
An early burst of patriotic fervor saw draft centers swamped with volunteers, but that has waned with Vladimir Putin’s war in its third year.
The 28-year-old is one of thousands of young Ukrainian men keeping their heads down, dodging conscription and avoiding registering their details as required. Artem is cautious when he ventures out, and avoids places like metro stations where police mount document checks looking for draft-dodgers.
“Some of my friends are more paranoid — they never go out,” he says.
Artem has the air of a fugitive, with his baseball cap pulled down firmly and shielding his eyes even on an overcast day. Before entering the coffee house in downtown Kyiv to meet with POLITICO he gazes up and down the street, and once seated talks in a low voice so as not to be overheard.
When Russia invaded their country two years ago, young and old Ukrainians swamped recruitment centers to volunteer. Some were frustrated not to be drafted immediately, and complained loudly. The Ukrainian military couldn’t take everyone owing to a lack of resources and equipment, but managed to muster new units, expand established ones and improvise to halt Russian armor bearing down on Kyiv.
But that early burst of patriotic fervor has waned with the war now in its third year, the body bags filling, and men returning home injured and disfigured.
Pessimism about the future of the conflict is also taking hold, with ever more people questioning whether Ukraine is capable of defeating Moscow's forces.
This is something that happens in every war, but it's difficult in this particular one since there is a very slim chance other countries will come to the rescue. So it's all up to the Ukrainians themselves to cope with this thread/war.
Yeah, Russia is shaping up for a summer push. Ukraine need all the people they can get at the moment, including western help.
I like to think it's psyop, Russia thinking they're short on troops only to push into a freshly thawn Ukraine would be disastrous.
Summer, not spring. By June they should be adequately thawed.
I've a sprinkler and a long garden hose, they're Russian conscripts so they probably won't know the difference.
It's not really that. Ukraine has a shitty rotation policy which basically states "you are in till you die". They don't really release soldiers which you need to do to keep getting volunteers. Hearing "you are in for a year, then you can go home" is way prefferrable to "no you can't go back till the war is over".