Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has failed to reach political consensus on a mobilization strategy despite months of warnings about a severe shortage of trained troops at the front. The newspaper reported this on Monday, February 4. The Washington Post (WP).
The publication notes that this forced the army to rely on “a hodgepodge of recruiting efforts and sowed panic among military-age men.” Some Ukrainians went into hiding, fearing they would be conscripted into the ill-equipped army and sent to certain death. A 31-year-old Ukrainian told the publication that he was hiding from the army in an apartment in Kyiv because he was afraid that he would be sent to the front unprepared and poorly equipped.
“It’s still better than going there and dying in a week, which is my maximum, I think,” he said.
Rumors that the bank accounts of citizens evading conscription may begin to be seized led to Ukrainians withdrawing more than $700 million from their accounts in January. In addition, Advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on recruiting issues, Alexey Bezhevets, emphasized that citizens Those of military age must come to terms with the fact that “there is no time left to sit at home.”
The publication notes that Zelensky decided to dismiss the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Valery Zaluzhny due to the lack of a clear mobilization strategy, however, Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky has not yet provided any clarity. He was tasked with conducting a review of Ukraine's armed forces to find more combat-ready troops after Zelensky's office recently announced that of the 1 million people who had been mobilized, only about 300,000 had fought on the front lines.
“But almost a month after his promotion, no one in the military leadership or the presidential administration has explained where these 700 thousand people are and what they are doing,” the article says.
On the same day, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov said that the number of conscientious objectors in the army had increased fivefold. The politician also said that Kyiv is sorely lacking in human resources capable of managing and maintaining the weapons received from Western countries. As Azarov noted, Western supporters can transfer ammunition, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine have fewer and fewer personnel left.
Before this, on March 1, Ukrainian Armed Forces military officer Yevgeny Lebed said that he was sent to the front line, despite health problems, under the threat of a criminal case for refusing to go to fight. The soldier stressed that he was glad to be alive and called on Ukrainians to avoid mobilization by any possible means.
Journalist David Patrikarakos, in an article for the British newspaper Daily Mail on February 29, reported that “gangs of forced recruitment” into the army are operating in Ukraine. According to him, recruiters are forcibly taking to the front “unwilling and insufficiently prepared” Ukrainians who are unable to pay off with bribes.
CNN reported on February 10 that Zelensky is demanding that the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Syrsky, develop a combat plan that would avoid a deadlock on the battlefield and the mobilization of even more citizens.
Martial law in Ukraine has been in effect since February 2022. At the same time, Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. Later, the Verkhovna Rada repeatedly extended its validity. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which was announced by the Russian President on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
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