The Draft Dodgers of Ukraine

[jakeXT]

KIEV, Ukraine — Roman has been dodging the draft for almost a month now.

A longtime political activist and accountant in Lviv, in western Ukraine, he no longer lives where he’s registered at his parents’ house in a small village outside the city, so he wasn’t there when the local draft board tried to serve him notice on Jan. 16. His father refused to sign at first; he relented after the head of the village threatened to call the police. But Roman, 24, who declined to give his last name for fear of being tracked down, never showed up for the required medical examination.

“I am against every war, but especially this war, because it’s meaningless,” said Roman, who has been staying in an apartment in Lviv that belongs to his wife’s relatives. “I think this conflict was created artificially. The Ukrainian mass media helped this along by spreading this patriotic hysteria.”

Desperate for manpower in its standoff with pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, which has lasted some 10 months and killed at least 5,600, the Ukrainian military early this year reinstituted a general draft, giving itself the power to conscript young men between the ages of 20 and 27. But a huge number of Ukrainians, like Roman, are reportedly avoiding service, either because they’re disturbed by the prospect of fighting their fellow countrymen in the rebel ranks, are against the war in principle, or because they are simply afraid to go. Although no exact figures on the number of those avoiding conscription are available, it could be as many as tens of thousands: The military said in September that during partial mobilizations in 13 regions in 2014, 85,792 of those summoned didn’t report to their draft offices and 9,969 were proven to be illegally avoiding service.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/18/the-draft-dodgers-of-ukraine-russia-putin/

[libdem4life]

1. Useless war...can relate. Civil Wars are worse hell than just "run-of-the-mill" wars on someone's

soil/country/continent.

All wars, however, are useless. 3...2...1 Military advisors sent by US?

[Fred Sanders]

2. Mass Media spreading patriotic hysteria? Good thing that never happens in America...

[beemer27]

3. I feel sorry for this guy.

He is in a no win situation. If they do find him, he will be drafted, if they don't, he will be branded a "draft dodger" for the rest of his life. We had the same thing happen during our Vietnam War. Those who avoided the draft, (for whatever reason, it makes no difference,) will always wear the label of draft dodger, and people will never forget their actions when called.
This is one of the areas that the Libertarians got it right. If you support the war, you are the one who volunteers. If you don't support the war, don't go. If no one supports the war, there will be no troops, and no war. Society has no business telling anyone that they are the ones that must go and fight while everyone else stays home and sticks magnetic ribbons on their cars to "support" the troops. Those who are not drafted also hate having their taxes raised to pay for the war, and will find ways to pass the bill to others.
The best that this guy can hope for now is to move to a different country and start over. He will hopefully be smart enough to keep his mouth shut about his lack of military service and about hiding from the draft. It ain't fair, but it is the way it is.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Guess he'll be happy living as a Russian, then....

Perhaps he should move to one of the conquered New Russian territories and start rebuilding...

[Fumesucker]

5. Beats being dead

I realize this is a radical idea but just maybe he knows his own country better than you.

[jakeXT]

6. she knew that you could buy your way out of the draft; this was Ukraine, after all,

Then, in August, her husband, the father of their young daughter, had been drafted. Lena didn’t want him to go, and she knew that you could buy your way out of the draft; this was Ukraine, after all, one of the most corrupt countries in the world. She’d heard rumors that even some military personnel had managed to escape mobilization. But Lena’s husband, who had no real military training, only some theoretical knowledge of artillery, said that he wanted to defend his country. The Ukrainian Army provides almost no equipment to its conscripts, so Lena and her husband scrambled to purchase several thousand dollars’ worth of supplies—a good helmet, boots, camouflage, a bulletproof vest, sleeping bags, hemostatic bandages—and to procure prescription painkillers. After three weeks of training, her husband was sent to Donbass. He has now been on duty for four months, without any break or hope of rotation.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/ukraine

[Blue_Tires]

9. He's not going to have a "country" much longer...

[Fumesucker]

10. Then perhaps he was smart not to get his ass killed defending it..

[Blue_Tires]

11. Hell, I admire someone who admits upfront

that he's looking out for #1 with all other concerns secondary...He'll be a useful functionary for the new regime, assuming he isn't planning to emigrate out

[Fumesucker]

12. Eh, from my point of view all sides are corrupt and not worth supporting

In which case looking out for #1 is the option I would pick.

Too bad more Americans didn't choose that option in 2003.

[bemildred]

7. Pro-Kiev militias are fighting Putin, but has Ukraine created a monster it can't control?

The eastern Ukraine conflict is typically seen as a war between the Ukrainian military, on one side, and Russian-backed rebels, fighting alongside unacknowledged Russian forces, on the other. But there is another faction fighting as well, one that has gone largely overlooked: the dozens of private "volunteer" militias that share Ukraine's goal of crushing the separatists, but that aren't necessarily operating under its control. These groups have proved useful to the Ukrainian government's war effort, but they pose a serious threat to the long-term stability of Ukraine.

By many estimates, there are approximately 30 of these private armies fighting on the Ukrainian side. Their fighters are accused of serious human rights violations, including kidnappings, torture, and extrajudicial executions.

The longer these groups continue to operate, the greater the chances that their leaders will exploit their power for personal or political gain, and cement their own power to operate without constraint from the central government. That undermines the power of Ukraine's government, risks chaos in a part of the country that has already suffered too much, and raises the possibility that even if separatist forces are defeated, eastern Ukraine might be left as an ungoverned collection of warlord-dominated fiefdoms.

http://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8072643/ukraine-volunteer-battalion-danger

[bemildred]

8. Ukraine lost 179 troops in battle for Debaltseve: advisor

---

Biryukov said the rebels overwhelmed the town by throwing "five to seven times" more fighters at it than the number of troops inside.

Journalists who entered the town after the rebel offensive found a shattered landscape of burnt-out army vehicles, craters and shell-shocked civilians who had sheltered in cellars.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko had claimed the retreat from Debaltseve on Wednesday was "orderly" and organised. But surviving soldiers contradicted that and spoke of a sudden and mad race out of the town under heavy fire.

The defeat has generated loud criticism in Ukraine against Poroshenko's military commanders, with many soldiers and civilians accusing them of incompetence by keeping troops in Debaltseve well after it became clear that it was virtually surrounded by the rebels.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/ukraine-lost-179-troops-in-battle-for-debaltseve-aide/article/426626