When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, many Ukrainians were drawn to the frontlines to defend their country with guns in hand. However, after two years of war, a large number of them are wounded or dead, and those willing to risk their lives and on the battlefield have dwindled drastically.
“I love my country. But I can’t kill and I don’t want to die,” The Guardian newspaper quotes thirty-one-year-old Serhij, who volunteers in Kharkiv and is one of those who have not yet directly intervened in the fighting. “Everyone is tired of war. And from this government. There’s a ‘go get stuffed’ attitude.”
To relieve exhausted soldiers on the front lines, the Ukrainian government is trying to find new people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy therefore approved measures in April allowing more soldiers to be drafted into the ranks of the army and stiffening penalties for avoiding service.
The mobilization age will thus be reduced to 25 from May 18, and those who avoid conscription will be able to lose their driver’s license and property. If successful, the mobilization law could then provide Kiev with hundreds of thousands of new troops, which Ukrainian officials say are desperately needed to stop Russia’s advance.
The atmosphere in Ukraine thickens with the new rules. Officers roam the streets looking for men eligible for the draft. Serhij himself and his colleague were checked twice in one morning – first they received a polite request to register data and then an official invitation to come to the recruitment center as soon as possible.
That’s where Serhij’s friend really showed up and tried to explain that he was a volunteer doing useful work for NGOs. However, he did not go far with the information, and officials called on him to appear before a medical board within three days, under threat of a fine, to assess whether he was fit to join the army.
So the young Ukrainian preferred to disappear to the countryside and now works remotely.
More details about mobilization
Kyiv has not yet said how many troops it wants or needs to mobilize. The decision is politically sensitive, but it is not just about his unpopularity. The New York Times, referring to UN models, writes that Ukraine has a particularly low number of young men.
This hiding from the authorities is not unique in Ukraine. For example, Oleksandr, another of the Ukrainians interviewed by the Guardian, has moved to a richer neighborhood, where the officers don’t go as much, and he only goes out on rare occasions.
Then there were even telegram channels in which people warned each other about conscription officers.
However, there are also those who prefer to choose the escape route, which in some cases means walking hundreds of kilometers, or large sums of money for the smugglers who arrange their way out of the country. The state of war, which has been in effect since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, prohibits men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country.
About half of those who try to escape are said to be caught, and some even end up losing their lives. As Reuters reported at the end of April, since February 2022, about 30 Ukrainian men have died illegally crossing the Ukrainian border.
Relative safety
But these refugees are not even beyond the borders of Ukraine in complete safety. The pressure for the men to return to the country is growing. This is evidenced by the fact that the Ukrainian embassy has temporarily suspended consular services for men of conscription age, which means for them, for example, problems with extending the validity of their passports – and therefore restrictions on movement.
After the already mentioned May 18, they will have access to these services again, but they will need special documents, which – just like those already staying in Ukraine – they will only get at their local tax office after updating their personal data.
Interview with a Ukrainian soldier
“We had to get out ourselves because the guards just ran away. We were pulling out our wounded and giving them first aid, but we didn’t have any bandages or anything like that, so a lot of my men just bled to death,” Arsen Dmytryk describes how he experienced the consequences of the attack on the prison in Olenivka.
“We all felt as if the ground had collapsed beneath us. That Ukraine no longer wants to support us,” The Washington Post quotes forty-two-year-old Oleksandr from Kyiv, who has been living in Austria for several years. “I am not afraid of death. My biggest fear is that they will capture me and torture me,” he added.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanišynová, there will be no forced return of citizens. However, some fear that in the future the government will resort to exactly this scenario in order to replenish the ranks of the fighters. At the same time, many men left Ukraine legally, for example for treatment or studies.
The defense ministers of Poland and Lithuania have already pledged to help Ukraine repatriate its men of fighting age who left the country to avoid deployment to the battlefield. At the same time, Poland is the main refuge for those who fled the conflict, and according to Eurostat and the Polish Central Bank, there are an estimated 200,000 Ukrainian men in the country.
On the other hand, Estonia informed that it does not plan the forced repatriation of Ukrainian citizens legally residing in the country.
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“Part of it is about restoring some balance. It’s unfair that men in Ukraine now have to live like this,” The Washington Post quotes another Ukrainian interviewed, 35-year-old Savely, who now lives in London and who understands the situation in which the Ukrainian government found itself.
“There is a feeling that we men who live outside the country have more privileges and freedoms. But the situation is not black and white,” the young Ukrainian objected. “There are people who still live in Ukraine and pretend there is no war, and people living outside of it who work every day to support Ukraine.”
