First, Vladislav no longer entered the center of Kiev to avoid the inspection of documents by recruitment officials. Later, he stopped going to the gym because of patrols nearby. Now he spends much of his time holed up in his apartment, often watching with binoculars as police issue draft notices to commuters leaving a nearby subway station.
“They are everywhere now,” said Vladyslav, 45. “I’ll try to avoid getting caught,” he said, “but I’m not sure that’s possible.”
As Russian troops attack the front lines, Ukraine’s military has been desperately trying to replenish its war-torn army and has launched a massive mobilization operation backed by the new law.
While many Ukrainian men responded to the call to join the army, some tried to evade conscription. Even before the latest mobilization, thousands of men had fled the country to avoid serving, some of them swimming across a river that separates Ukraine and Romania. Now, as officers go out to cities across the country to draft men of military age (currently ranging in age from 25 to 60), many like Vladislav are hiding, fearing that the draft is a ticket to the front lines. one way ticket.
It is unclear how many people are in hiding, but social media groups that alert members to movements of conscripts have tens of thousands of members in major cities such as Kiev and Lviv.
Interviews with more than a dozen men who said they stayed home to avoid enlistment revealed a range of reasons. All expressed fear of dying in a conflict characterized by bloody trench warfare and devastating explosions. Many also said they opposed the draft because of what they said were harsh recruitment tactics and a lack of adequate training.
Mykyta, a 28-year-old web designer from Lviv in western Ukraine, said: “I’m worried that I won’t get enough training and then I’ll be moved closer to the front lines and then I’ll die pointlessly. “
Those concerns are supported by some military analysts, who say Ukrainian troops often lack adequate training, making it difficult for Kiev to hold its ground as they are quickly sent to the battlefield to make up for battle losses.
Col. Vladimir Novosiyadli, the official in charge of recruitment in Kiev, said the training lasted for at least a month and that the army tried to treat conscripts with fairness and empathy. But he added that “every citizen should understand the need to fulfill his duty to defend the country”.
Many Ukrainian men join the army out of a sense of civic duty. Since the new mobilization law was passed in April, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said 1.6 million service members have updated or registered their details on government websites, a first step before possible enlistment.
The conscription system had been somewhat chaotic and marred by corruption since the beginning of the war. There was no lottery, and the government’s strategy was to hand out draft notices at random in apartment buildings and on city streets. It is illegal to ignore a draft notice.
The new law required all men drafted into the army to register with the government, including providing an address, and draftees were selected from this group. Failure to register by July 16 will constitute a criminal offence.
Timofey Brik, a sociologist at the Kyiv School of Economics, said polls “show that Ukrainians’ willingness to defend their country remained consistent throughout the war,” with about a third expressing a willingness to serve.
Still, Ukraine’s mobilization campaign has created painful divisions in society. Vitaliy Bondarenko, a 29-year-old military recruiter in Lviv, said every time his car stopped, the men hurried away.
“They run when they see us,” he said.
Many Ukrainian soldiers resent those who try to avoid military service, saying their actions undermine the country’s war effort. “Given the intensity of the current fighting, the army cannot fight without regular replenishment,” said another 25-year-old Miketta. Denying that reality, he added, “is unacceptable and just plain stupid.”
For much of the first two years of the war, the Ukrainian military conducted no large-scale mobilization, relying instead on tens of thousands of volunteers who joined the Ukrainian army after Russia invaded in February 2022.
But by late last summer, after the Ukrainian counteroffensive failed and Russian forces stepped up their offensive, the need for more soldiers became apparent.
“That’s when the first red flag came up,” journalist Vladislav said. In September, he said, a draft notice was pinned to his apartment door.
Vladislav ignored it, hoping that it would not be legally binding since it was not given to him, but his fear of being drafted into the army grew. He said he fell into depression. During a recent interview in a park outside his apartment, he shivered as a soldier walked by.
Oleksandr, a 32-year-old data analyst from Kyiv, said he had been “scared since last summer” after seeing police stop a man outside a metro station near his home. “They grabbed him by the shoulders and took him into the car,” he said, adding that police had lined up along the station’s exit stairs to prevent anyone from escaping.
“I felt like the next hand was going to grab my shoulder,” he said.
Some men who have evaded military service say they now travel only by taxi to avoid being pulled off the street and forcibly taken to recruitment centers, as happened in several cases. Others relied on food delivery to evade draft officials.
Oleksandr said he had begun assessing which routes were safest to get to work and monitoring groups on the Telegram messaging app, where people track the movements of draftees. In Kiev, a group with more than 200,000 members used colors such as green to signal the presence of recruiters and warned of possible stops on sunny, cloudy and stormy days.
“But after two weeks, all the routes I could take became unsafe,” Oleksandr said. He remembers not being able to sleep. “The fear built up over time, like a lump in my chest,” he said. He now works from home almost every day.
Vladislav, Mikita and Oleksandr have all said they donate to the Ukrainian armed forces and are not entirely opposed to joining the military.
Their main objection, they say, is Ukraine’s mobilization process, which they say pays little attention to people’s physical abilities and skills and only puts them at risk of death. They say medical exams are often rushed and training sessions don’t last long enough.
Jack Watling, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, said most Ukrainian soldiers would be lucky if they got five weeks of training. By comparison, Britain trained its infantry for about 22 weeks during World War II, he said.
Col. Novosiadelli noted that recruiting officers are often veterans whose jobs are difficult because they face hostility on the streets.
He said they mobilized people “not because they felt like it” but because they understood the urgent need to replenish the force.
Still, concerns are being watched as Ukraine intensifies its mobilization efforts, including stepping up border patrols to catch those trying to flee the country.
Andrii, another 28-year-old web designer from Lviv, describes himself as “a little paranoid.” He didn’t leave his apartment for days, relying on friends to bring him food. On the rare occasions he leaves home, he wears an electronic bracelet with a red distress button that, when pressed, sends his location to relatives.
Andry said if he was caught, he would push the button so they could find which recruiting center he was taken to and try to help him.
Data analyst Oleksandr said he did not want to break the law and would eventually update his details online and then expected to be asked to undergo a medical examination. Due to his slender frame, he pinned his hopes on being declared unfit to play.
But, he said, “It feels like buying a lottery ticket.”
