KYIV—There aren’t enough volunteers in Ukraine to make up for the constant flow of dead and wounded soldiers, filling the country’s graveyards and hospital beds.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his military commanders seek an additional 450,000 to 500,000 men to compensate for casualties and expand the army in 2024. Finding men to replace the fallen is becoming more complex.
As people’s hope of a quick victory has faded and horror stories fill living rooms, some Ukrainian men are hiding to avoid mobilization.
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Some stay home and avoid the streets, where police or military officers hand out draft notices and take men to military bases. Others flee Ukraine with falsified documents.
All healthy men between 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, so you need fake medical records to cross the border. The Daily Beast, for example, knows of one couple who bought fake documents stating that their child is disabled in order to let the father to flee the country.
A Ukrainian military member and a police officer looking for men to check in western Ukraine.
Stefan Weichert/Daily BeastIn a city in Western Ukraine, The Daily Beast met a 31-year-old man who is trying to avoid being drafted into the army. He spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity as he worries that he will be dragged to the military after publication.
“I don’t want to die. I hear that a lot of soldiers who come back from the frontline have psychological issues. They are different men,” says the man who The Daily Beast will call Sergei. “Some will probably have drinking problems and a lot of other issues and no future. I want to have a future.”
Sergei, who has no children and isn’t married, says that he understands the need for more men and supports a free Ukraine. However—like some of his friends—he doesn’t feel like a soldier and isn’t sure he would do well at the frontline. Last year, he received a draft notice on the streets from military officers ordering him to report at a nearby military base.
He never went. Sergei knows he might be taken directly to a base if the authorities find him.
“I hear a lot of stories of people who are being taken on the streets and are pushed to the frontline without much training, and I have even heard stories of people being sent without training and being killed after just a few days,” says Sergei, who works as a delivery person, “I will try to avoid that for as long time as it is possible. I want to have a future.”
Needed for War
The overall number of people like Sergei, who don’t want to join the army, is unknown. People are often afraid to raise their voices in public and simply stay at home to avoid being detected. It is estimated that around 20,000 men have fled Ukraine illegally since the Russian invasion began, according to the BBC. At least three men are reported to have drowned trying to escape Ukraine into the European Union or Moldova, according to the State Border Service of Ukraine.
On social media, there are often videos of what appear to be Ukrainian military men handing out draft notices on the streets and checking young men at checkpoints. Videos of fighting-age men being pulled into vans to be sent to bases for check-ups have gone viral. People often don’t stay at their registered addresses, making it harder for the military to find them.
“Those who try to avoid mobilization are about 1-5%. They are definitely not critical to the defense of Ukraine,” said Fedir Venislavskyi to the BBC in November, when he was the president's parliamentary representative.
Western observers have said that one of Ukraine's major issues is its ability to find more men for the war effort, as the Russian population is around 3.5 times larger than Ukraine. Recently, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, wrote an Op-Ed in The Economist, arguing that Ukraine needs more men at the frontline.
“Our capacity to train reserves on our own territory is also limited… We cannot easily spare soldiers who are deployed to the front, (and) Russia can strike training centers. And there are gaps in our legislation that allow citizens to evade their responsibilities,” he said.
As of now, no Ukrainian man between 18 and 60 can leave Ukraine. Men between 27 and 60 can be mobilized to the army, while men between 18 and 26 can only join voluntarily. Volodymyr Zelensky is considering lowering the mobilization age to 25.
The Ukrainian parliament is also considering other legislative changes to increase the number of people eligible for military service. Among other things, people are now only categorized as either fit or unfit for service. Previously, people could be “partly suitable,” such as those with minor health issues like asthma. These proposed changes are making men, who were previously only partly suitable, worried about their future.
In December, the Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told DW that all Ukrainian men between 25 and 60, living abroad will be asked to report for service. According to the European statistics agency Eurostat, 19.9 percent of the 4.2 million Ukrainians who have received temporary protection status in the European Union since the invasion are men.
“We are still discussing what should happen if they don’t come voluntarily,” said Umerov.
Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline take part in a medical training in Donetsk Oblast.
Ignacio Marin/Anadolu via Getty ImagesTelegram Warnings
At the beginning of the invasion, Sergei considered volunteering for the army like thousands of his fellow citizens, but the fear of what he might encounter made him hesitant. Sergei then tried to find a way to leave Ukraine legally but failed. He says that he doesn’t want to leave Ukraine illegally as he would be afraid of the repercussions.
In Ukraine, so-called “guides” offering to help men cross the border can be found on Telegram's social media site for about $1,300 and up. Sergei often keeps updated on the situation on Telegram, where people share stories.
He has friends fighting at the frontline and can understand why some soldiers are angry at people like him for not doing what they consider a man's duty.
Sergei knows that people might be angry at him for not joining the army but says that he wants a future and that he wouldn’t make a good soldier.
Stefan Weichert/Daily Beast“But I don’t think that it is reasonable that we should all be fighting. Some are more scared and not fit for it,” says Sergei. “I understand that these soldiers are angry because they see their friends dying. They are full of anger against everyone.”
“I might be able to help the army in some ways, which is not at the frontline, but I cannot trust that they will not bring me directly to the frontline,” says Sergei, who adds that he has heard stories of people with diabetes or asthma, who are taken to the front.
The Daily Beast also spoke to another man on condition of anonymity. The 27-year-old, who we will call Alex, volunteered for the army last year but was sent home due to too many volunteers. He has a heart condition and tells The Daily Beast that he wants to help the army but that he is reluctant to volunteer again due to the risk of being sent to the front.
He is worried that everyone being taken now will simply be used as cannon fodder at the frontline and that the army wouldn’t mind sending people with disabilities to the frontline.
“On social networks, you can hear things are incorrectly done. Some people, who are taken to the army to serve other functions, end up at the frontline after a few months anyway because a commander changes his mind,” says Alex.
Alex wants to help the Ukrainian army but is worried that they will just send him to the front with very little training in places where he will have problems with his heart condition.
Stefan Weichert/Daily Beast“The army knows where I am, so they can come to my home and pick me up. So, if the war lasts very long, I will probably end up in the army, but I know that many people now also wish for peace. I hope peace will come soon,” says Alex, who adds that the military often drives around his city in busses, picking up men on the streets to serve.
He says a fair and transparent mobilization system would calm people and potentially provide more volunteers. Alex argues that there are too many stories of people being sent to the front with minimal training and disabilities, which makes everyone scared.
“Now, they are establishing these recruitment agencies, where they promise you can come and volunteer and receive three months of training, not only a few weeks. Make a real soldier out of you, but you cannot trust that,” he says.
New System
The criticism of the mobilization systems comes from various parts of Ukrainian society. Some argue that Ukraine should introduce a lottery system, where people are drafted depending on their birthday. Others say that Ukraine should only mobilize people not vital to the Ukrainian war effort. Recently, on Facebook, a Ukrainian officer named Yuriy Kasyanov criticized what he calls an inefficient system.
He fears that Ukraine might lose the war if something isn’t changed to make the system more fair and increase the number of men willing to serve in the army.
“The first thing I can say is that the situation is awful at the frontline. Very bad, and I know it very well. Maybe this is not so visible in the rear. Still, we are holding on with all our strength,” Kasyanov, a drone expert in the army, told The Daily Beast, “The most important thing is that, finally, euphoria and blindness are beginning to subside in society. We understand, including commanders and government officials, that something needs to be done.”
Yuriy Kasyanov says that the current mobilization system is idiotic.
Stefan Weichert/Daily BeastKasyanov says that mobilization has been a mess for a long time, with people in critical civilian positions being taken to the army. He knows examples of people producing much-needed drones for the army being taken despite a lack of military training.
“We now have very few specialists—welders, turners, not to mention high-class engineers. And in the field of drone engineering, you can count them on your fingers,” said Kasyanov, who advocates for a mobilization system that considers people’s abilities.
People who might not be fit for frontline duty or have special skills should work with military production instead of risking their lives in the muddy trenches. He also advocates removing some of the exemptions from duty. Today, students are exempt from mobilization. He wants that removed to help reduce the average age in the army, which he says is over 40.
“Now the situation is such that, for various reasons, our level of support from Western countries has decreased. There was still no defense industry of its own. There are not enough people, and no one wants to take responsibility for mobilizing the youth. At the front, the troops are having difficulty holding back enemy pressure,” Kasyanov said.
Trust Eroded
The Daily Beast also spoke to a 28-year-old man who only wants to be identified by his first name, Andriy. He left Ukraine in 2023 and is now in Europe. He crossed the border legally due to his mother's disability, which enabling him to go as her guardian. Andriy told The Daily Beast that he and his mother decided to use this loophole to avoid being drafted into the army and risking his life at the frontline.
Andriy has health issues, making him exempt from military duty in peacetime, but he cannot trust that it will shield him now during the invasion if he gets picked up on the streets.
“I just decided not to leave it to chance. Not to believe that I would be let go if the military picked me up on the streets because I will not survive on the frontline,” says Andriy, who is trying to live an anonymous life abroad so as not to attract too much attention.
He says that the stories he heard from the frontline affected his decision. He might be able to help the military in functions away from the frontline, but he doesn’t trust the system.
“All this new legislation makes mobilization stricter and stricter. The opportunity today might not be there tomorrow,” says Andriy, “I have a responsibility to care for my mother and myself. I did not want to be taken, and I have a lot of friends who feel the same.”
“I will not come back until after the war. If I have to pay some fine for avoiding mobilization after the war, it will be okay, and I will pay it, but if there is a criminal case and I need to do real-time in jail, I will not come back,” says Andriy.
