Kiev will conscript 160,000 more troops over the next three months, according to statements from lawmakers and media outlets. More than a million soldiers have already been drafted, yet high losses have left the Ukrainian Armed Forces plagued by manpower shortages.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces had around 250,000 active-duty personnel at the beginning of 2022, a number that rapidly swelled once Vladimir Zelensky called up reservists and forbade draft-age men from leaving the country.
This spring, faced with mounting losses, Kiev lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and significantly tightened mobilization rules, requiring potential recruits to report to conscription offices for “data validation.” These checks often result in people being immediately taken into the army and sent to the front line.
They don’t have a choice. It is this or being Russian slaves.
Hey, thank you for your insightful comment!
Could you please expand on that and tell me more about people in Crimea and other liberated cities being Russian slaves?
Also while you are at it - could you please also explain to me how being unable to leave your country where you can be kidnapped on a street at any day and sent to die is not considered slavery / is better than “being Russian slave”? How did that happen that “Russian slaves” can move to Ukraine controlled territories at any time and supposedly stop being slaves, but those who are on Ukraine controlled territories cannot do the opposite (and yet for some reason you wouldn’t consider them slaves)?
Russia is imperialist and I don’t trust any of their “referendums” in the occupied regions of Ukraine, given that Russia rigs elections (that’s a video of ballot stuffing in Russia).
I do think there is a point to make here. Ukrainians should be free to leave their country if they want. But anyway, I strongly disagree with your view that Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine is “liberating” anything or anyone.
But you still support Zelensky’s regime that makes it impossible, don’t you? :/
You might not believe me, but if Zelensky didn’t turn Ukraine into his
smallhuge North Korea where trapped people are kidnapped from the streets and sent to the meatgrinder - I’d be donating money to my country every month. But Zelensky made sure to make this impossible - supporting his regime is supporting trapping innocent people in a war-torn country with missiles/drones/shells flying over them. People afraid of leaving their homes because “recruitment officers” can kidnap them them and send to die. People try to escape this hell, and die trying to “illegally” cross the border through rivers/mountains. Zelensky made sure to become our enemy #1.But how is this not a liberation? Quote from a dictionary:
People on the liberated territories are not confined and can leave at any time. People on Zelensky controlled territories quite literally cannot leave. You can argue that it wasn’t started as liberation. But it is now, unless my dictionary is wrong about the definition of word “liberate”. It didn’t have to be, but thanks to Zelensky it is.
Are people in Russian-occupied territories free to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? No. They would get put in prison, or worse. So they aren’t free.
I do think Ukrainians should be allowed to leave Ukraine. But you seem to be blaming Zelenskyy for the Russian shells, being fired by Russian forces. For some reason you don’t want to put any blame at all on the Kremlin - why is that?
The only free people in this reality are billionaires. It’s not about who is free, it is about who is more free. Are you trying to say that people on liberated territories are less free than people on Zelensky controlled territories because… they can protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? So the ability to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is more important than freedom of movement and not being kidnapped from the streets?
Well thank you at least for that (that’s not even sarcasm btw, that’s already more helpful than most of the world), but again - you support Zelensky’s regime which is the one making it impossible.
I blame him for turning Ukraine into his North Korea. I blame him for trapping people, who die trying to cross the border by mountains/rivers, or hide at homes afraid to leave. I blame him for kidnapping people from the streets and sending them to the meatgrinder (so, killing them).
Here it is: I condemn Kremlin, Russia, Putin and everybody else responsible for this war.
Your mentions about North Korea are entirely baseless and fully in agreement with the likes like Zelensky and his US handlers.
Are people in Ukrainian controlled territories free to protest against forced conscription and withdrawal of passports? No, they will get put into prison, and given a choice to join the military or serve a long sentence.
If that’s true then both Ukrainians and Russians have impositions on their freedom, but at least Ukraine seems to have had democratic elections over the last 10 years, whereas Russia has been rigging their elections, perhaps since 1999 (or longer than that).
Anyway, I would definitely like for Ukrainians to be allowed to leave their country if they wish. But the blame for this invasion surely rests on Russia. The Kremlin launched this imperialistic invasion in 2022, building upon their earlier invasions in 2014.