First of all, Vladislav stopped visiting Kiev, UkraineHe lived in the city center to avoid having his papers checked by draft officers. Then he stopped exercising at the gym because of patrols in his neighborhood. Now he spends most of his days in his apartment, often using his binoculars to watch officers hand out draft notices to commuters exiting a nearby subway station.
“They are everywhere now,” said Vladislav, 45, who, like other Ukrainians in hiding interviewed for this article, requested that his last name not be published. “I will try to avoid getting caught, but I am not sure if that is possible,” he added.
As Russian forces advance across Europe, front lineThe Ukrainian Army He is carrying out a massive mobilisation drive backed by new laws to reorganise his war-torn military forces.
While many Ukrainian men have answered the call to serve, some others have tried to avoid conscription. Even before the recent mobilization campaign, thousands of men fled the country to avoid service, some of them by swimming across the river that separates Ukraine from Romania. Now, while authorities search the country’s cities for men of military age, currently ages 25 to 60, many like Vladislav have gone into hiding for fear they might be drafted into the army. Recruitment It’s a one-way ticket to the front row.
It is unclear how many are in hiding, but in larger cities such as Kyiv and Lviv, social media groups alerting members to the activities of draft officers have thousands of members.
In conversations with a dozen men who said they were staying home to avoid conscription, a variety of reasons emerged. All expressed fear of dying in a conflict characterized by bloody trench warfare and devastating bombing. Many also said they opposed conscription because of harsh draft tactics and a lack of adequate training,
“I’m afraid that I won’t get enough training, and then I’ll be moved closer to the front, and then I’ll faint and die,” said Mykyta, a 28-year-old web designer from Lviv in western Ukraine.
These fears are backed by some military analysts, who say Ukrainian troops often lack adequate training, making it harder for Kiev to maintain its position as they are quickly sent into battle to make up for combat losses.
Colonel Volodymyr Novosyadliy, the official responsible for recruitment in Kiev, said training lasted at least a month and that the army tried to treat recruits with fairness and sympathy. But he also said that “every citizen must understand the need to fulfill his duties in defending his country”.
Many Ukrainian men have joined the military out of a sense of civic duty. And since the new mobilisation law passed in April, the Ukrainian defence ministry said 1.6 million men had updated or registered their details on a government website, the first step ahead of a potential call-up.
From the beginning of the war, the draft has been somewhat disorganized and plagued with corruption. There was no lottery, and the government employed tactics such as randomly distributing draft notices in apartment blocks and on city streets. Ignoring a draft notice is illegal.
According to the new law, all draft-age men must register with the government, including their address, and draftees will be selected from that group. Failure to register by July 16 will become a criminal offense.
Timofey Bryk, a sociologist at the Kyiv School of Economics, said surveys showed that the desire to defend the nation among Ukrainians remained consistent throughout the war, with about a third willing to serve.
Still, Ukraine’s mobilization drive has led to painful divisions in society. Vitaliy Bondarenko, a 29-year-old draft officer in Lviv, said people ran away whenever his car stopped.
“They see us and run away,” he said.
Many Ukrainian soldiers are angered by those trying to avoid conscription, saying their actions undermine their country’s security. war effort. Another Mikita, a 25-year-old who was recently recruited and who gave only his first name in accordance with military rules, said, “Given the intensity of the current war, the army cannot fight without regular replenishment of personnel.” He said that denying this reality is “unacceptable and completely stupid.”
In the first two years of the war, the Ukrainian military avoided large-scale mobilization, instead relying on thousands of volunteers who joined its ranks after Russia invaded in February 2022.
But the need for more troops became apparent late last summer, when Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed and Russian forces stepped up their attacks.
“That was when the first warning signs appeared,” journalist Vladislav told the newspaper. He said a draft notice was posted on his apartment door in September.
Vladislav ignored it, hoping it would not be legally binding because it had not been handed to him, but his fear of being conscripted grew. He said he fell into depression. In a recent interview in a park outside his apartment, he trembled as a soldier passed him.
Olexander, a 32-year-old data analyst from Kiev, said he “started feeling scared last summer,” when he saw officers stop a man outside a subway station near his home. “They grabbed him by the shoulders and took him to the car,” he said, adding that officers stood along the station’s exit stairs to ensure no one could escape.
“I felt like the next hand was going to grab my shoulder,” he said.
Some draft dodgers say they now travel only by taxi so as not to be pulled off the streets and forcibly taken to conscription centers, as has happened in many cases. Others rely on food deliveries to evade draft officers.
Olexander said he has begun assessing which routes are safest to take to work and has monitored groups on the Telegram messaging app where people track the activities of draft officers. In Kyiv, a group with more than 200,000 members uses colors like green to indicate the presence of draft officers and warns about the risk of being stopped due to sunshine, clouds and storms.
“But after two weeks, all the routes I could take became unsafe,” Oleksandr said. He recalled that he couldn’t sleep. “The fear grew over time, like a lump in my chest,” he said. He now works from home almost every day.
Vladyslav, Mykyta and Oleksandr all said they had donated to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and were not entirely against joining the military.
He says his main objection is Ukraine’s mobilisation process, which he feels pays too little attention to people’s physical abilities and skills and pushes them towards potential death. He said medical checks are often rushed and training is not long enough.
Jack Watling, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, said most Ukrainian soldiers are lucky if they get five weeks of training. By contrast, Britain trained infantrymen for about 22 weeks during World War II, he said.
Novosyadli said recruitment officers, who are often combat veterans, have a difficult job because they face hostility on the streets.
He said he was organizing people “not because he liked it,” but because he understood the urgent need to increase troop numbers.
Still, people are watching with concern as Ukraine steps up its mobilization efforts, including tightening border patrols to catch those trying to flee the country.
Andrey, a 28-year-old web designer from Lviv, describes himself as “a little bit crazy.” He doesn’t leave his apartment for days at a time, relying on a friend to bring him food. When he does leave home, he wears an electronic bracelet with a red SOS button, which when pressed sends his location to relatives.
Andrey said that if he was caught he would press the button so they would know which recruitment centre he was being taken to and they would try to help him.
Olexander, a data analyst, said he did not want to break the law and would eventually go online to update his details, after which he would be called for a medical examination. He expects to be declared unfit because of his thin physique.
But, he added, “It feels like a lottery.”
“They are everywhere now,” said Vladislav, 45, who, like other Ukrainians in hiding interviewed for this article, requested that his last name not be published. “I will try to avoid getting caught, but I am not sure if that is possible,” he added.
As Russian forces advance across Europe, front lineThe Ukrainian Army He is carrying out a massive mobilisation drive backed by new laws to reorganise his war-torn military forces.
While many Ukrainian men have answered the call to serve, some others have tried to avoid conscription. Even before the recent mobilization campaign, thousands of men fled the country to avoid service, some of them by swimming across the river that separates Ukraine from Romania. Now, while authorities search the country’s cities for men of military age, currently ages 25 to 60, many like Vladislav have gone into hiding for fear they might be drafted into the army. Recruitment It’s a one-way ticket to the front row.
It is unclear how many are in hiding, but in larger cities such as Kyiv and Lviv, social media groups alerting members to the activities of draft officers have thousands of members.
In conversations with a dozen men who said they were staying home to avoid conscription, a variety of reasons emerged. All expressed fear of dying in a conflict characterized by bloody trench warfare and devastating bombing. Many also said they opposed conscription because of harsh draft tactics and a lack of adequate training,
“I’m afraid that I won’t get enough training, and then I’ll be moved closer to the front, and then I’ll faint and die,” said Mykyta, a 28-year-old web designer from Lviv in western Ukraine.
These fears are backed by some military analysts, who say Ukrainian troops often lack adequate training, making it harder for Kiev to maintain its position as they are quickly sent into battle to make up for combat losses.
Colonel Volodymyr Novosyadliy, the official responsible for recruitment in Kiev, said training lasted at least a month and that the army tried to treat recruits with fairness and sympathy. But he also said that “every citizen must understand the need to fulfill his duties in defending his country”.
Many Ukrainian men have joined the military out of a sense of civic duty. And since the new mobilisation law passed in April, the Ukrainian defence ministry said 1.6 million men had updated or registered their details on a government website, the first step ahead of a potential call-up.
From the beginning of the war, the draft has been somewhat disorganized and plagued with corruption. There was no lottery, and the government employed tactics such as randomly distributing draft notices in apartment blocks and on city streets. Ignoring a draft notice is illegal.
According to the new law, all draft-age men must register with the government, including their address, and draftees will be selected from that group. Failure to register by July 16 will become a criminal offense.
Timofey Bryk, a sociologist at the Kyiv School of Economics, said surveys showed that the desire to defend the nation among Ukrainians remained consistent throughout the war, with about a third willing to serve.
Still, Ukraine’s mobilization drive has led to painful divisions in society. Vitaliy Bondarenko, a 29-year-old draft officer in Lviv, said people ran away whenever his car stopped.
“They see us and run away,” he said.
Many Ukrainian soldiers are angered by those trying to avoid conscription, saying their actions undermine their country’s security. war effort. Another Mikita, a 25-year-old who was recently recruited and who gave only his first name in accordance with military rules, said, “Given the intensity of the current war, the army cannot fight without regular replenishment of personnel.” He said that denying this reality is “unacceptable and completely stupid.”
In the first two years of the war, the Ukrainian military avoided large-scale mobilization, instead relying on thousands of volunteers who joined its ranks after Russia invaded in February 2022.
But the need for more troops became apparent late last summer, when Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed and Russian forces stepped up their attacks.
“That was when the first warning signs appeared,” journalist Vladislav told the newspaper. He said a draft notice was posted on his apartment door in September.
Vladislav ignored it, hoping it would not be legally binding because it had not been handed to him, but his fear of being conscripted grew. He said he fell into depression. In a recent interview in a park outside his apartment, he trembled as a soldier passed him.
Olexander, a 32-year-old data analyst from Kiev, said he “started feeling scared last summer,” when he saw officers stop a man outside a subway station near his home. “They grabbed him by the shoulders and took him to the car,” he said, adding that officers stood along the station’s exit stairs to ensure no one could escape.
“I felt like the next hand was going to grab my shoulder,” he said.
Some draft dodgers say they now travel only by taxi so as not to be pulled off the streets and forcibly taken to conscription centers, as has happened in many cases. Others rely on food deliveries to evade draft officers.
Olexander said he has begun assessing which routes are safest to take to work and has monitored groups on the Telegram messaging app where people track the activities of draft officers. In Kyiv, a group with more than 200,000 members uses colors like green to indicate the presence of draft officers and warns about the risk of being stopped due to sunshine, clouds and storms.
“But after two weeks, all the routes I could take became unsafe,” Oleksandr said. He recalled that he couldn’t sleep. “The fear grew over time, like a lump in my chest,” he said. He now works from home almost every day.
Vladyslav, Mykyta and Oleksandr all said they had donated to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and were not entirely against joining the military.
He says his main objection is Ukraine’s mobilisation process, which he feels pays too little attention to people’s physical abilities and skills and pushes them towards potential death. He said medical checks are often rushed and training is not long enough.
Jack Watling, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, said most Ukrainian soldiers are lucky if they get five weeks of training. By contrast, Britain trained infantrymen for about 22 weeks during World War II, he said.
Novosyadli said recruitment officers, who are often combat veterans, have a difficult job because they face hostility on the streets.
He said he was organizing people “not because he liked it,” but because he understood the urgent need to increase troop numbers.
Still, people are watching with concern as Ukraine steps up its mobilization efforts, including tightening border patrols to catch those trying to flee the country.
Andrey, a 28-year-old web designer from Lviv, describes himself as “a little bit crazy.” He doesn’t leave his apartment for days at a time, relying on a friend to bring him food. When he does leave home, he wears an electronic bracelet with a red SOS button, which when pressed sends his location to relatives.
Andrey said that if he was caught he would press the button so they would know which recruitment centre he was being taken to and they would try to help him.
Olexander, a data analyst, said he did not want to break the law and would eventually go online to update his details, after which he would be called for a medical examination. He expects to be declared unfit because of his thin physique.
But, he added, “It feels like a lottery.”
