Ukraine lacking soldiers after 1,000 days of war, civilians recruited by force

Faced with the Russian army, Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian forces intend to mobilize 160,000 men. But many Ukrainians do not want to fight. For two and a half years, they have lived in hiding, in fear of being sent by force to the front.

It’s general mobilization. Nearly 1,000 days after the start of the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky’s army lacks the soldiers to repel Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces. On the streets of kyiv and the country’s major cities, thousands of men of fighting age live in fear of being arrested by the authorities and being forcibly recruited.

Since April, any man aged 25 or over (compared to 27 previously) can be called up to join the Ukrainian army brigades. And in recent weeks, several young people who had not responded to their summons have been taken away by force, sometimes in an extremely violent manner.

Ukrainians live in fear

Scenes which have gone viral on social networks and which terrify Ukrainians. “I have friends who died in the war because they were thrown on a bus and sent to hell,” explains to BFMTV Oleg, a father who lives in hiding at home and who requested anonymity to express yourself.

Unemployed, this former taxi driver survives thanks to the help of his friends. “I stay at home, I only leave my house to take out the trash or to go to a small convenience store in the building next door,” he says.

Since the start of the war, Oleg has lived in confinement. “Apart from that, I don’t move, I never leave a perimeter of one kilometer,” he summarizes.

In Ukraine, mobilization became a controversial subject as the war against Russia became bogged down. From the start of the conflict, Volodymyr Zelensky called for general mobilization by prohibiting men between the ages of 18 and 60 from fleeing the country in February 2022.

“I would like everything to go according to the rules”

After lowering the age of conscripts from 27 to 25, the Ukrainian government passed a text in April eliminating the demobilization of soldiers who had been fighting for more than 36 months. Next February, on the three-year anniversary of the war, there will be thousands in this situation.

Penalties for those trying to escape mobilization have also been toughened. Except that the current enlistment system is considered by many Ukrainians to be unfair, inefficient and often corrupt.

“I am not against mobilization, but given how things are going on the state side, obviously I do not want to undergo this kind of situation myself where I would be thrown on a bus for example. I would like although everything is going according to the rules”, Vladyslav told BFMTV.

This 31-year-old young man has not yet been called up, but he already fears his integration into the army.

Because kyiv recently announced plans to mobilize 160,000 people between November and February. Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is also seeking to recruit from among the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men living in Europe, particularly in Poland and Germany. Some had fled their country illegally at the start of the war, precisely for fear of being mobilized.