A fewer days ago, during an first meeting, The reader asked me what were the hottest conflicts between Ukraine and Ukrainians today. “One to five”, I replied, and quoted the words I heard from an officer of the Ukrainian armed forces: “A million fights, 5 million heat beds in the back; that can no longer happen.” This opinion came at the end of last year, erstwhile it was clear that the military was inactive having problems with additions. Although the evaluation itself is simply a damaging simplification, the uneven distribution of defensive effort remains a fact, for any Ukrainians it is very problematic.
Not only well-deserved leaders or humble ranks, the war in Ukraine besides has its anti-heroes – non-military. In the first half of last year, erstwhile the destiny of the mobilization bill weighed, social ostracism was directed mainly towards men who fled abroad. The problem was estimated to be around 700 000. Ukrainians aged 18–60, i.e. formally subject to collection obligation. Plans to bring them to their homeland failed for nothing, and it shortly turned out that the "refugees" (as they are called in Ukraine) could be much more and not necessarily hiding distant from home. Last summer's mandatory enrollment of recruits revealed that there were over 4 million men of draft age who had not been mobilised so far. Under these circumstances, there was talk of a million and... 5 million deanmen.
I realize the social emotion, but at the same time I do not see anything different in the fact that only a part of Ukrainian men scope the front. The belief that everyone should fight due to the fact that there is simply a war going on, nevertheless common, is not reflected in the reality of modern armed conflicts. In fact, a tiny percent of society is fighting. Much, yes, supports, but most just effort to survive. In the second group the scope of attitudes is wide – we will find here and indifference, and collaboration. Men who voluntarily go to the army for ideological, patriotic reasons are several, sometimes respective percent. The remainder of the army are draft boys. And those who avoided it do not should be “the evil ones.”
Ukraine, January 27, 2025. photograph AA/ABACA/Abaca/East News
A state at war is simply a immense and complex organism that does not consist solely of fists. There's inactive everything else essential for his operation. There should be an efficient economy behind the soldiers on the front, individual must work. Armoured crews are evidently part of this puzzle, but Let's effort to imagine a Ukrainian war effort without energy (divisively playing critical infrastructure after each Russian attack). Let us consider whether Ukraine would inactive be free without a functioning railway. Without thousands of smaller and larger transport companies supporting military logistics. Without a giant volunteer movement that organizes relief for the armed forces, for example, bringing in utilized ground vehicles from all over Europe suitable for usage on the front. Even the “cursed” refugees make their contribution. Those working in Poland send to the east – to families that stay in place – up to $5 billion a year. For the war-torn Ukrainian economy, it is simply a solid support, not to be developed in the country.
The outbreak of a full-scale conflict filled the barracks with youths from a volunteer haul, but by the end of the 3rd year of the war there was no trace of specified commitment. 20–30-year-olds service in the army, they form a crucial part of it. There are besides quite a few teenage volunteers, but that does not change the fact that the average soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is 43 years old. Keeping young people out of the front doesn't suit everyone. Objectively, he's dishonest, yet rational. 20-, 30- and 40-year-olds usually have families and children. Their contribution to reproduction has already been made. However, adult teens frequently have choices and decisions ahead of them. To guarantee that this demographic reserve remains as many and as fit as possible is simply a question of the biological endurance of a given community. And the basic condition that the Ukrainian authorities follow after 2022. This “fight for the future after the war” makes the lower threshold of mobilisation comparatively advanced – present it is determined by the age of 25. It was 27 years ago.
Finally, the method argument. Ukraine's Armed Forces present have less than 900,000 soldiers. The secret is that decent quality equipment is adequate for half of the SHU staff. The remainder service in “naked” brigades of small value. Alexander Kowalenko, a Ukrainian military analyst, estimates that out of all 100 1000 recently called soldiers 125 battalions could be formed. In order to “have hands and legs”, soldiers should be assured... 1.4 1000 tanks, over 4 1000 combat vehicles and 1 and a half 1000 artillery pieces. Where do you get all this equipment? That's right.
