“We had a large-scale invasion and now we have a large-scale social rejection of the army.” It is the first sentence that Major Oleksander Bondarenko, press officer of the military command in the province of Sumi, in northern Ukraine, tells EL PAÍS. Bondarenko accompanied this newspaper on May 3 on a work day of a patrol from the Regional Recruitment Office (TCC) of Sumi, those in charge of obtaining new soldiers for the army. Citizens, both men and women, cast distrustful glances at the soldiers who identified them in villages and on the road. One of the restrictions that Bondarenko established to prepare this article is that no photographs be taken in the event of a conflict with a civilian.
Ukraine urgently needs more troops. Tens of thousands of casualties and an exhausted army after more than two years of war against Russia have decimated its Armed Forces. The new mobilization law, approved in April after months of delays due to its unpopularity, will come into force on May 18. The objective is to incorporate nearly 400,000 new soldiers between 25 and 60 years old into the ranks. At street level, the soldiers who are looking for men to be recruited experience first-hand the rejection that exists among citizens to be mobilized. Surveys by population centers indicate that only around 30% of civilians are willing to join the defense of the country.
“My obsession is knowing when this great rejection of the army began,” insists Bondarenko, 25 kilometers from the Russian border, from where the invader once again threatens with an assault that will open a new war front. Yulia Vitkovska is an officer at Sumi TCC. Vitskovka, like the rest of the soldiers who make up the delegation, has returned from the war front a few months ago. They are men with physical or mental injuries who cannot continue fighting. She served in the 58th Mechanized Brigade in some of the bloodiest battles, such as Bakhmut or at Vugledar. “People always have some excuse to get away,” says Vitkovska. Her companions, civilians before the war like her, received the call from the army to enlist in 2022. Captain Igor, the highest-ranking officer in the group, corroborates that at the end of 2023 (after the failed counteroffensive in the summer of that year ), the number of people willing to join the Armed Forces began to decrease.
There are few cases in which the identified man refuses to present his documents, TCC members explain. A police patrol moves alongside them, which is the one that has the legal authority to intervene in case a civilian does not want to collaborate. Vitkovska remembers the case of a 30-year-old man, on the second patrol she did at a roadblock four months ago. “That guy was strong, healthy and refused to identify himself, he didn’t care. I asked him what he would do if the Russians besieged Sumi again, who would defend his house and his wife. In that case, he responded, “he would enlist.”
Oleksi is 29 years old and is a taxi driver in Sumi. He is exempt from going to the army because he has a document certifying that her mother is sick and he must take care of her. But if it weren’t like that, he admits that he wouldn’t want to join the ranks either. “I don’t want to go because I don’t want to die. “I would volunteer if my city is at risk of being occupied, but at the moment, of my friends who are fighting, the only ones who have returned have done so crippled or in a coffin.”
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
The TCC establishes a roadblock near the municipality of Stepanivka. In the surrounding fields, excavators and workers work around the clock to build new fortifications to protect the provincial capital against a possible new Russian assault from the north. The drivers that Igor stops show their identity documents and official papers that exonerate them from being recruited, for health, family reasons – like the case of Oleksi -, studies or work. The new law will restrict the number of cases in which a person can avoid enlistment. “We have met men over 40 years old who started studying at university. “When the war ends we will be the most educated country in the world!” Igor comments ironically.
Roadblocks are the most effective way to find men to be summoned to the recruiting office, explains Vitkovska. “On a normal day, on average we can deliver 15 summonses, but when we carry out large operations, when we cut several roads and there is no way to avoid the controls, we can reach 50,” adds Igor.
In the towns there are two procedures to distribute the TCC calls, patrolling the street or showing up at the homes where men of combat age are registered. “Visiting homes is not the most effective method, because of the 10 houses you visit, only two open the door,” according to Vitkovska’s calculations. On the streets of Stepanivka the results are not as desired either. “The population informs themselves in Telegram groups about our location and the men disappear,” confirms Igor. In the center of Stepanivka there is a grocery store, a bar, the post office, the pharmacy and the Town Hall. It is an area that, under normal conditions, should be frequented by neighbors, but at the time the patrol is present there is no one, like in a western movie, when a group of armed strangers burst into a town.
A van appears from which six men get out and the TCC patrol, together with the police, immediately tackle them. They all have a temporary work permit for a public project in which they work. Soon another van parks and a man comes out to pick up some packages from the post office. The soldiers give him a summons to report to the recruiting office; He explains that it is not the first one he has received. With the new mobilization law, ignoring these summonses will mean higher fines, with the risk of having your accounts seized, in addition to losing your driver’s license.
25% of Stepanivka’s men of fighting age are already enlisted, reports the City Council. It is a high percentage and confirms Vitkovska’s experience: mobilization is more effective in rural areas. “People in the city are more educated and have more ways to get by,” adds Igor, the captain. A common ploy to avoid recruitment, which is to reside in one region and be registered in another, is unusual in towns. Faced with this maneuver, Vitkovska concludes, her patrols can do little, because if they ask for documents from someone who resides in another province other than Sumi, they have no authority to force him to serve the country.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#day #recruiting #patrol #unpopular #job #Ukraine