Ukraine divided over controversial mobilisation bill • FRANCE 24 English

Maxim avoids going out these days I live in a permanent state of stress and anxiety monitoring telegram channels to work out how I can get from A to B without getting drafted various telegram channels show where military recruiters are and also videos of their alleged abuses they’re chasing people like dogs

And now they’re proposing to block people’s bank accounts so either you can’t buy bread or you go to the front where you theoretically earn money but who knows when you’ll come back if ever they’re drafting ordinary people with no military skills whatsoever you can’t train someone in a

Month soldiers in this Battalion are Keen to dispel such fears we also didn’t know anything we had no idea about war most of us but now we offer all our guys psychological help and support so they understand that the Army is not the horror story that gets spread among civilians where they just

Grab you put you in uniform give you a machine gun and send you to the front line to die this Battalion places great emphasis on adequate training which continues on the job in donbass with enlistment rates way down the offic is here hoped to attract the best recruits by projecting an image as

A good modern place to serve I’ve heard some units are still openly Soviet style not here thank God in other Battalion some people don’t even know their unit leaders here you can go and see the commander shake his hand and I’ll talk to you like a friend

We set off ourselves to do just that accompanied by the newest man here including my training this is my third month my Impressions from the Army are very positive lots of great and dependable guys he enlisted voluntarily but says he knows people back home who are reluctant those videos where you see

Draft officers shoving people into their Vans by force they’re not very good for the mobilization process when ordinary guys see that they get even more afraid we started a recruiting campaign to encourage people to join us by choice we want to attract those who are joining

The Army of their own free will but mobilization is also necessary if someone doesn’t know what he wants yes compulsory mobilization is unavoidable I put it to him that some people seem pretty clear that they don’t want to serve like Maxim whom we met in Kev in the end he’ll be ashamed we’re

Going to win we will win peace will come and as for him yet as Ukraine struggles to pass a law aimed at drafting more men the attitude of people like Maxim has found some advocates in Parliament we cannot have repressive Force mobilization in Ukraine people will enlist but they must have proper

Training and in the meantime only those already competent to handle weapons that is law enforcement officers can urgently replace those who need rotation Julia timoshenko may not be the popular leader she once was but she not alone numerous politicians have taken similar stances much to the frustration

Of Roman lozinski an MP who’s also serving in the Army himself every time I come back to ke I hear these discussions how about we talk it over another month Ukraine is fighting a war of independence there are no Simple Solutions like sending more police officers or prosecutors to the front

Plenty of police are already fighting we can’t afford to play political games or compete for popularity ratings with something like this meanwhile across town oxana’s husband Andre is on the front line their baby is due in March she says swimming helps her keep calm it’s when I sit at home without any

Work to do or any appointments that’s when the bad thoughts come it’s a girl we’ll call her Mariana andry hasn’t seen me pregnant only on video the couple managed to speak most days but the news is not always Reassuring and the phone has its limits I would like us to be together for the birth but they won’t give him permission we haven’t seen each other since the summer they won’t even let him come up for a weekend because they haven’t got enough people Andre’s unit is fighting in the back mot

Area when I go on a mission I call and say I’ll be offline for two or three days and she for those two or three days can barely sit still so the question of mobilization is absolutely crucial it’s time for society to realize this so get your thoughts

Together and help us out here because it’s tough most Ukrainian soldiers have had fewer than 10 days leave in the past year

Can Ukraine recruit enough soldiers to maintain its defence against Russia? This week, parliament is expected to debate a new version of an already-delayed mobilisation bill. After almost two years of war, the men sent to the front line are exhausted. Most Ukrainian soldiers have had fewer than 10 days’ leave in the past year. The mobilisation bill proposes limiting military service to three years, but also reducing the conscription age from 27 to 25 and tightening penalties for those who fail to register. The legislation is proving divisive in Ukraine, as our correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports.
#Ukraine #mobilisation #military

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42 comments

  3. Ok so we the west say FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, oh you died, oh ok, hmmm, FIGHT, take them all!
    If the obvious is done, hold negotiations, don't stip them (Istanbul) ,hold elections, yes in war time, more important than ever to hear the voice of the people! in Ukraine and from the millions of refugees abroad. Ever thought about the outcome of that elections, ahh no that is not interesting, because we the west decide when, how and if, just sad humanity accepts this as being a good human to others. Shame on all that fund more death for something that is so far away from there beds, this proxy war has to stop, there is no excuse, not in the name of lost Ukraine's, not in the name of lost Russians, not in the name of anything but peace.

  6. the soldiers logic is as delusional and brainkd as it gets. life is the most precious thing, don't throw it away for politicians sake

  14. Unacceptable!! How dare Ukrainians challenge the West? Like the women in Afghanistan that we have completely forgotten, we will forget you in time. For now, go to the front!!

  15. "If someone doesn't know what he wants he must know that compulsory mobilization is unavoidable" – ahaha, what a triumph of democracy and freedom

  16. They should start drafting athletes. They know where they are. On played in the Champions League. Send him to the front.

  17. Think about it, you speak Russian. The city where you live has great architecture built during the Russian Empire. Right now the 'trending' show you are watching is based in 1980s Kazan, Soviet Union. Why would you fight to be forced to learn a language a few million people speak, to be cut off from centuries of your common culture?

  19. Hundred thousand people died in useless Ukrainian counteroffensive that achieved nothing. How many more have to die?
    And these death are kept secret in ukrainian media. They don't tell the numbers, they don't show the bodies or the horribly injured. So what is this support for the war based on, really? Not reality. People are not shown the reality of the war.

  20. While the politicians in Ukraine just beg for more money approved to steal it. The government is betraying its people in a delusional war that was lost from the start.

  23. That's kidnapping instead, a person who is forced to fight can do it properly and prone to surrender at any chance, just to get out of hell.

  24. Let's see man… if they drag you onto the battlefield at some point you will have a weapon in your hands… it is at that moment that you rebel against the officers, or you take charge of them directly.

  26. thank god our ex president duterte of the philippines didnt listen to the u.s. to attack china in the south china sea or else will be in the same situation as ukraine

  29. You guys showing even this? A normal guy checking internet to safe passage or gets drafted involuntary (totally not kidnapping, i guess). This is bad, isn't it?

    Its actually much worse there, huh?

  30. … and Vitali Klitschkos son is 24 years old and living a luxury life in Germany. I wonder if he will be also recruited … or just “ordinary citizens “ ? … unfortunately again double standards !!!

  39. Ukrainia has exceded expectations as is..btu this is a losing effort it appears Russia is jsut amroe powerful coutnry.. sad because it seems theres an injustice here..

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