Ukraine, men on the run to evade conscription: “We are not for war”
Since the war began, thousands of Ukrainian men have crossed the Ukrainian border illegally to evade conscription, despite a ban on leaving for anyone between the ages of 18 and 60.The Guardian reports the news, says The messenger, which tells the story of a thirty-one year old photographer KharkivUkraine’s second-largest city, has been holed up in his apartment, rarely leaving, to avoid being drafted into the army. “I want to leave the country. My mind can’t stand being trapped here any more,” Dmytry said. Attempts to flee the country are expected to increase after Ukraine recently adopted sweeping new mobilization measures, allowing the military to call up more soldiers and impose tougher penalties for draft evasion, the British newspaper reported. “I never thought about leaving until the mobilization laws were introduced. But I can’t stay in my apartment forever,” Dmytry said. Through friends who had already fled, the photographer gained contacts and contacted people online who guaranteed his escape for a large sum, starting at 8,000 euros. “I’m not made for war. I can’t kill people, even if they’re Russians. I won’t last long at the front… I want to build a family and see the world. I’m not ready to die,” he said.
More than two years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s armed forces are desperately short of soldiers. Since the war began, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians have volunteered to serve on the front, helping to preserve the country’s independence and repel the initial attack. Many of those soldiers have died, been wounded or simply exhausted, leaving the military to recruit from a more reluctant pool of men. To fill the ranks, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy signed a controversial law in April that lowered the age of conscription from 27 to 25. Under the new guidelines, draft dodgers can lose their driver’s licenses, have their bank accounts frozen and their property confiscated. Even before the latest mobilization drive, more than 20,000 men are believed to have fled the country to avoid military service, some of them swimming and drowning while trying to cross the Ukrainian-Romanian border. In April, Andriy Demchenko, head of Ukraine’s border guard service, reported that at least 30 Ukrainian men had died trying to cross, though the true number is likely much higher, with many bodies likely never recovered. As mobilization officers roam the cities to conscript men of military age, many like Dmytry have hatched plans to leave, fearing they won’t survive long on the front lines.
Since the beginning of the war, the draft has been criticized as chaotic and tainted by corruption. Ukraine has stepped up its efforts to prevent people from fleeing across the border and evading the draft, as evidenced by Zelenskiy’s dismissal of all regional military recruiting officials in April. That dismissal followed reports of officers accepting bribes to exempt men from conscription. But the practice appears to be difficult for authorities to stamp out.
While overall support for the country’s troops remains high and polls show there are still a significant number of men willing to be mobilized, Ukraine’s conscription drive risks dividing an already war-fatigued Ukrainian society. Many Ukrainian soldiers at the front, or returning after being wounded, criticize draft evasion, arguing that the practice weakens their country’s war effort as Russian forces advance on multiple fronts. Standing outside a Kiev cafe, leaning on a crutch, Roman, who was discharged from service after a grenade hit his right leg, expressed disappointment at hearing stories of men hiding or trying to flee the country. “I understand that people are afraid, but we just need new recruits to keep fighting,” he said. “If not us, who will protect this country?”
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