Like Zelensky, Ukrainian Men Look to Dodge Draft
Most dodge the draft by using medical exemptions and bribes. Confirming a disability can cost a Ukrainian man over $3,000 on the black market
To flee, or not to flee…that is the question for many Ukrainian men who are essentially trapped in the country because of the martial law declared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the early stages of the war.
While support for the war effort in Ukraine remains strong, the desire by men to join the front has greatly diminished as reports indicate that 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the war broke out and up to 50,000 have lost limbs and will not be able to return to the battlefield.
Zelensky’s history of draft-dodging became a focal point that former President Petro Poroshenko tried to scrutinize. On April 13, 2019, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry took to Facebook to confirm that Zelensky ignored four draft notices on 15 April 2015, 23 June 2014, 15 August 2014, and 10 October 2015. “Citizen Zelensky V.O. did not arrive at the military commissariat at his call”
There are no official statistics on how many men between 18 and 60 fled the country. The report said there could be up to 80,0000 Ukrainian men seeking refuge in Poland alone. The general feeling among countries is that it is a human right to avoid conscription.
The problem for these men is crossing the border.
DW, the German outlet, reported that Ukrainian men, desperate to live, have forged documents and have tried to sneak across the border into neighboring countries. The report said more than 15,000 men have been detained in Ukraine trying to illegally cross, the report said.
When these men are captured, they are immediately taken to a recruitment center to be processed, one border guard told the outlet.
DW spoke to a tattoo artist who said while he supports the country, he does not want to fight.
“I think having your own country is much more valuable than being a refugee somewhere, but the price to pay – disability or death – is higher than the value of having a country. I would rather be a refugee than die…and there’s no guarantee that the country will exist after my death,” he said.
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Men between 18 and 60 can be required to serve in Ukraine. DW reported that the exemptions include fathers of more than three children, those taking care of sick parents, and other essential workers.
Most dodge the draft by using medical exemptions and bribes. Confirming a disability can cost a Ukrainian man over $3,000 on the black market. (This led to the embarrassing enlistment corruption scandal that resulted in Zelensky removing 24 regional recruitment heads.)
The size and lethality of Russia’s army was always going to be a problem for Ukraine, which now plans to update its conscription laws to enable Kyiv to draft men who would normally not be allowed to fight because of a debilitating illness, including HIV, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis. Since 1 October, Ukrainian women of fighting age can now be compelled to fight, according to Western Standard.
“In the conditions of the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, every conscious citizen who is subject to military registration must appear at the territorial center as soon as possible,” Yuriy Hryva, head of territorial recruitment center legal group, said.
The European Conservative reported that Austria and the Czech Republic refused Ukraine’s demand to extradite fighting-age Ukrainian men who had fled the country after the Russian invasion.
The outlet reported that a leader from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party said Kyiv should demand the extradition of men who “illegally left Ukraine to escape mobilization.”
TRENDPOST: During the 2019 campaign, Zelensky’s history of draft-dodging became a focal point that former President Petro Poroshenko tried to scrutinize. On April 13, 2019, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry took to Facebook to confirm that Zelensky ignored four draft notices on 15 April 2015, 23 June 2014, 15 August 2014, and 10 October 2015. “Citizen Zelensky V.O. did not arrive at the military commissariat at his call,” the post read.