When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, so many citizens of all ages queued up at recruitment offices, eager to defend their country, that many were turned away and sent back home. But as the war rages into its third year, demoralising numbers of dead and wounded at the front – estimated in the tens of thousands – and controversies surrounding mobilisation have led to the country facing severe personnel shortages in the military. The debate is such that tensions are building in society, the authors of a research titled Mobilizing hearts and minds in times of war: Ukrainians’ concerns and hopes about military service, and supported by the Public Interest Journalism Lab and the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research.
Jaroslava Barbieri, a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the report, explains during the presentation of the document on Tuesday in Kiev that the aim of her work has been to understand which actions are most likely to calm people’s concerns about enlistment. “Giving these concerns the importance they deserve is essential to design a victory strategy that is not only effective, but also fair,” she argues in her video conference. The recommendation is clear: improve conditions and, above all, counteract the feeling of uncertainty. The work has been prepared based on interviews with military personnel, their mothers and wives, veterans, civilians of conscription age and young people who have not yet reached the minimum age to enlist.
Polls show that only 30% of the civilian population is willing to join in the country’s defence. Meanwhile, the number of those willing to give up territory if it means ending the war has tripled in the past year, according to another study carried out in May and June by the Kiev Institute of Sociology: 32% versus 55% who are still against any territorial concessions to Russia.
Nataliya Gumenyuk, co-founder of the Public Interest Journalism Lab, responds to this reluctance of Ukrainians: “There is a misperception that people do not want to be recruited. The fact that there are no queues does not mean that people do not want to fight. The problem is how it is being done,” she says.
What is and is not fair
Ukraine has 1.3 million people in the armed forces, but more are needed to cover casualties, build reserves and provide troop relief capacity. According to the report’s findings, reluctance to enlist revolves around the perception that there is no fair procedure despite the general consensus that mobilization is urgent. By far the most cited reason is inequality, with people with more resources perceived as more likely to get out of it, for example by paying bribes. In the words of one veteran interviewed, “As a rule, those with money are of no use.” [en las Fuerzas Armadas]”.
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Other forms of injustice include the disproportionate targeting of mobilisation officers in rural areas and the fact that they are not always held accountable for incidents where men have been forcibly detained on the street. Complaints are also raised about the mobilisation of people with health problems or disabilities and the deployment of people to the front line without taking into account their specialist skills. “A couple of days ago a professional driver came, and instead of being assigned as a driver, they sent him to an assault brigade – this is an injustice,” criticises a 43-year-old soldier from kyiv quoted in the report.
That soldiers have to buy pieces of military equipment with their own money, and that members of the security forces, such as policemen, are exempt from enlistment despite their good qualities, are other common complaints.
“Chronic uncertainty and a feeling of lack of control have a demoralizing effect,” Barbieri says. Along these lines are the reasons that can deter men: insufficient material, fear of disability and death, indefinite service periods, inadequate training and the likelihood of being sent to a unit with a “bad” commander.
In fact, one of the most important factors in deciding whether or not to enlist is the difference between serving in one battalion or another, something that recruits can decide in Ukraine and that can mark the abyss between living or dying. This was the key to the decision to enlist of the husband of Daria Chornomorets, a 24-year-old woman living in kyiv. “There are good and bad commanders; the good ones care about their soldiers, so you have to try to negotiate enlistment with a unit where you know they will take care of you,” she reflects during a meeting in a café. Her husband, a 33-year-old biochemist, finally chose to join the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion, one of the most reputable units in the country.
Chornomorets’ husband knew that he could be called up at any moment. “You have two options: either volunteer yourself to try to negotiate which battalion you go with, and what your fate and role will be, or cross your fingers that other people will achieve victory without you.” This debate took place in his family, he admits, and he finally decided to volunteer. “It’s a way of having some control over your destiny.”
The danger of misinformation
Amid the climate of uncertainty, the feeling of misinformation among Ukrainians plays a significant role, as they now rely more on social media and word of mouth than on official information. “In the end, everyone has a relative or acquaintance at the front, and the information they tell you will always seem closer and more reliable,” says Gumenyuk.
On 26 February 2022, the government launched the United News Telethon, a 24-hour television broadcast aimed at providing truthful information in the aftermath of the invasion. However, the initiative has been criticized for restricting press freedom. A recent survey by the International Institute of Sociology in Kyiv shows that during the two years of war, Ukrainians’ trust in the Telethon has almost halved: from 69% in May 2022 to 36% in February 2024.
As a result, Ukrainians are more reliant on informal sources of information. Another March 2024 survey by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiative Foundation showed that the main sources of information about the war are Ukrainian Telegram channels (53%); relatives and friends (42%) and YouTube (40%). These data are identical to those obtained by Barbieri.
One veteran noted that if stories shared by soldiers returning from the front contain inaccurate information, they can also demotivate civilians. And this is something Ukraine cannot afford if it wants to maintain and grow its army.
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