By Ahmed Adel
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Ukrainians are taking increasingly desperate measures to avoid conscription into the military at a time when Kiev does not have reserve troops to replace those already on the front, a soldier from the neo-Nazi Azov Brigade told local media. The lack of morale among Ukrainians to fight Russian forces brings into question why the US insists on sending billions of dollars to Kiev.
“No one is willing to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine nowadays,” commented Niko, who is using a call name and is a fighter for the 12th Brigade of the Azov Brigade, a formation of the National Guard of Ukraine formerly based in Mariupol.
The men “do whatever they come up with” to avoid conscription, including “swimming across the Tisza River and drowning themselves in there,” Niko told local media TSN before referring to reports from April 13 about men killed trying to flee Ukraine across the river to avoid compulsory military service.
Likewise, the neo-Nazi fighter said he continues to serve despite the amputation of his leg because no one can replace him.
Evasion of military service is increasingly worrying for Kiev, with many trying to flee the country illegally. The reaction of the Ukrainian authorities to these attempts is harsher than ever. A video published by Ukrainian media in March showed border guards brutally beating dozens of men detained when they tried to cross the border with Romania, piling them together on the ground.
On April 11, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine approved a controversial law requiring men between the ages of 18 and 60 to carry their military registration papers at all times. The new law also toughens penalties for attempting to evade military conscription.
The mobilisation law aims to increase the number of Ukrainian troops. These measures were adopted amid the heavy losses suffered by Ukraine in the conflict, with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu indicating in late April that Kiev had lost almost 500,000 soldiers since the start of hostilities.
Yet, despite this catastrophic casualty number and the evident unwillingness of Ukrainians to fight, US President Joe Biden has approved a massive $61 billion aid package for Ukraine, wasting more taxpayer money on a war that will only result in Russia’s ultimate victory.
Ukrainians desperately avoiding conscription shows that the only people on the frontline are those unfortunate to have been forcibly mobilised and are therefore not motivated, or the most extremist elements like Niko, who have managed to survive but are extremely exhausted and even maimed.
This raises questions about who will man the new influx of weapons and equipment that Ukraine will receive. In fact, journalist Christoph Wanner on Die Welt revealed that the Ukrainian military is refusing to use US-made Abrams tanks due to overestimated expectations.
It is recalled that in late September 2023, the White House confirmed that Abrams tanks had begun arriving in Ukraine.
“They probably didn’t bring what was expected of them, so now they are temporarily abandoning the still intact Abrams tanks,” the journalist said when commenting on the withdrawal of Ukraine’s Abrams tanks from the front line.
Wanner noted that using the tanks, initially hailed as a “wunderwaffe” (wonder-weapon) that would turn the tide in Kiev’s favour, is complicated by first-person view (FPV) and kamikaze drones operated by the Russian military. Expectations of the Abrams effectiveness faced a harsh reality as cheap Russian drones can easily turn expensive American-made tanks into scrap metal.
“We cannot live in a world where drones costing a few thousand dollars have free rein to attack $10 million tanks where they are most vulnerable: from above,” lamented The Telegraph on April 26.
The fact that Abrams tanks have been removed from the battlefield indicates that Ukrainian soldiers are considered by the Kiev regime even more expendable than their outdated weaponry, providing insight once again into why Ukrainians are desperately avoiding conscription.
Although the $61 billion aid package could sustain Kiev’s war efforts for a few more months, it ultimately cannot help Ukraine avoid defeat. This will put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an even more difficult predicament than he currently finds himself in, especially as he is carrying out brutal persecutions through his conscription system of kidnapping men between 18 and 60 years old to go to the battlefront – a situation that cannot be sustained as domestic outrage will boil over.
The only thing Zelensky currently offers Ukrainian men of combat age is to die fighting in a futile war against Russia or go to jail for having deserted. As Niko pointed out, “No one is willing to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine nowadays.”
And who can blame them? No one wants to die or lose a leg like the neo-Nazi fighter did.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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