“Unpopular measures are needed.” Zaluzhny warned about Ukraine’s difficulties with increasing the number of Armed Forces

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Valeriy Zaluzhny, called for the use of “unpopular measures” to increase the size of the army. He wrote about this in an article for CNN.

He pointed out that Kyiv needs to recognize the advantage Russia has in its ability to mobilize human resources. “We need to compare this advantage with the inability of Ukrainian state institutions to increase the size of our armed forces without resorting to unpopular measures,” the military leader said. The Commander-in-Chief indicated that Ukraine “continues to be hampered by the imperfection of the regulatory framework.”

Zaluzhny also named Kyiv’s three main goals in the conflict for 2024. According to him, Ukraine needs to create a system for providing the army with high-tech means, introduce a new philosophy of training and conducting combat operations, which will take into account limitations in means and methods of their use. In addition, Kyiv should develop new combat capabilities as quickly as possible. In his opinion, Ukraine should accumulate the latest combat capabilities as much as possible in order to waste less resources.

Earlier, retired General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergei Krivonos noted that Ukraine does not have the resources for a new offensive. He pointed out the erroneous policy of Kyiv in terms of mobilization and operation of enterprises to meet the needs of the army.

Ukrainians who did not want to fight were offered to be imprisoned and maimed

Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine proposed giving draft dodgers who fled abroad from three to five years in prison. People's deputies proposed amending the Criminal Code, according to which Ukrainian citizens could be imprisoned for illegally crossing the border in order to evade conscription for military service during mobilization. Today in Ukraine there is no criminal liability for escape.

The initiative of parliamentarians came against the backdrop of a number of resonant statements made by Ukrainian commanders. Thus, the commander of the 118th Terrestrial Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Anatoly Stuzhenko, proposed to cripple Ukrainians who do not obey the demands of TCC employees (territorial recruitment centers, an analogue of military registration and enlistment offices).

In turn, the former commander of the Aidar battalion (recognized as terrorist in Russia and banned) Evgeniy Dikiy called mobilization evaders rats and threatened those of them who began to gather in groups with reprisals. “Believe me, we will clear them out, there will be no room left,” he said in an interview.

Ukrainians are fleeing mobilization

Faced with the threat of being on the front line, Ukrainian citizens began to invent ways to escape mobilization. One of the popular ways is to cross the state border and ask for asylum in neighboring countries. In particular, it became known that evaders disguise themselves as wild animals in order to overcome the control strip on the border. If the border runs along a river, then, border guards told reporters, Ukrainians use wetsuits, fins or underwater turbines. If caught, fugitives are immediately sent to the TCC.

Earlier, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky noted that since the beginning of hostilities, from 6.5 to 7.5 million citizens have gone abroad. There are now 880 thousand people in the troops, he added.

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Natalia Kalmykova admitted that the number of citizens evading conscription is off the charts. According to her, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are doing everything to avoid mobilization.